Translated material
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The Russian men's team can no longer cope with Japan at home
In the fifth round, the Russian team hosted Group C outsider Japan at the Sports Palace in Surgut and in the second match suffered a sensational defeat from a team that had not lost to in official matches since 1994. The contrast between the fights held over two days was more than striking. If on Friday the charges of Italian coach Daniele Bagnoli did not experience the slightest problem and defeated their opponents - 3:0 (25:19, 25:12, 25:22), then on Saturday they shocked their admirers - 1:3 (23: 25, 23:25, 25:22, 21:25).It is not clear why Bagnoli began experimenting with the squad at a time when the national team is fighting to get into the final tournament of the World League and every point is worth its weight in gold. Moreover, in the current draw the Italian system is in effect, in which, for example, a victory in five sets leads to the loss of a point. Therefore, to achieve maximum results, you need to gain the upper hand with a margin of safety, that is, be sure to 3:1 or 3:0.
In Friday's game, our team's starting lineup included setter Grankin, diagonal Mikhailov, blockers Kuleshov and Kazakov, finishing players Sivozhelez and Berezhko, libero Verbov. The next day Butko began to pass, Mikhailov was replaced by Poltavsky. These changes backfired on our team. Bagnoli’s explanations sounded extremely unconvincing: “I decided to give several players a chance, even knowing that they are now far from their best form. At least ten teams can be organized from Russian volleyball players, each of which is capable of defeating Japan.”
The absence of full-time captain Sergei Tetyukhin, whose health the coaching staff decided to protect, also had an impact. If Sergei had been on the court, he certainly would not have allowed some of his teammates to smile carefreely in those moments when the team’s game was clearly not going well, and Russia was in the role of catching up. Following the results of six home matches with sold-out crowds and excellent support from spectators in Khabarovsk and Surgut, the Russian team earned even less than half of the possible points - 8 out of 18 (1:3, 3:0 with Bulgaria, 3:2, 0:3 with Cuba and now now 3:0, 1:3 against Japan).
The same volleyball players perform, but for some reason amazing metamorphoses can occur in the game of our team within a day. It is unacceptable for an opponent whom we crush, allowing him to score only a dozen points in a game, to lose the next day. It is obvious that the relationship between the coach and his players is not properly built, and the team is not yet an integral team. In recent years, our volleyball fans have completely lost the habit of the idea that the men's team might suddenly not be able to cope with the middle or outsider. The Russians were periodically beaten by teams from the world elite - Brazil, Poland, Bulgaria, the USA, Italy, now they have to come to terms with the possibility of a fiasco in the meeting with Japan, which has not achieved anything serious for a long time.
The World League is not the main competition of the season, but with such a noticeable regression in the game, the task of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup no longer seems 100% feasible. The qualifying tournament will take place very soon, on August 7-9. Firstly, the Russian national team before the matches in Tampere, Finland, risks losing the necessary playing practice at the decisive stage of the World League, and secondly, Germany or Belgium in their current state are no weaker than Japan. Over the past two weeks, Finland has defeated Brazil at home and twice defeated Poland, even though it played without a number of leaders. Ahead is the September European Championship in Turkey, where with such unstable play it will be difficult for the Russians to count on getting into the medals, although everyone has already been waiting for continental “gold”.
According to the not very clearly defined regulations of the World League, which appears and disappears from the official website of the International Volleyball Federation, in addition to the winners of the four groups and Serbia as the host country, sixth place in the final round will be given to the team that finishes in second place in the group with the best performance in the following order - points scored, victories, goal ratio. Moreover, this ticket has wild card status, although this is a common application of the sports principle. After ten matches played, rivals Russia, Italy and Finland have identical indicators according to the first two criteria - 17 points and six victories. In terms of goals, they are higher than the Squadra Azzurra. Taking into account the opponents in the last round, Russia does not look like a favorite in this round. Bagnoli's team will have to play in Bulgaria, it will be much easier for the Italians to score points in China, the same goes for the Finns, because they are meeting with the Poles, who are no longer solving any tournament problems. If it had not been for the failure in the second match with the Japanese, Russia would have had a handicap of three points, which is a big advantage over such a short distance.
Despite the failure of the main team, not everything is so bad in our men's volleyball. For the first time since 1973, the student team, led by Boris Kolchin, seconded from the main team, won gold at the Universiade held in Serbia. The Russians won all the matches at this tournament, defeating Brazil in the final - 3:0. The level of the tournament was serious, as some countries, such as Egypt and Sweden, delegated their first teams to Belgrade. Among the other award candidates there were enough volleyball players from clubs in the top divisions of the national leagues.
It is significant that yesterday’s juniors from Belgorod, Denis Biryukov and Dmitry Ilyinykh, ousted Denis Kalinin, who was a member of the first team, and Dmitry Krasikov, who played in the World League last year, from the main team at the Universiade. Bagnoli definitely needs to take a closer look at the leaders of the student squad. Personnel changes in the national team are clearly overdue.