Gearing up for World League – Team Russia

Where were we again? Let’s take a look:

Egypt Portugal
Japan
Iran
Netherlands
South Korea
Finland
Canada
Italy
Argentina
Serbia
Russia
France
Brazil
Germany
Bulgaria
Cuba
USA
Poland

Since the FIVB, like most (if not all) international sport sanctioning bodies, consider Russia the direct successor of the Soviet Union/CIS programs, they have hands down the strongest history of any team in this rundown. Volleyball was first played at the Olympics at the 1964 Tokyo Games, meaning there have been 13 Olympic tournaments altogether. Russia or their forerunners have medalled in 10 of them (four golds), and of course they didn’t even come to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. They’ve got six gold medals each at the World Championships and the World Cup, along with a handful of medals of other colours. They’ve won the World League twice, in 2002 and 2011. They were once dominant at the CEV European Championships, winning 12 gold medals there as the Soviet Union, but they’ve not medalled there at all since 2003 (suggesting they don’t send their A-squad anymore).

The roster is a true murderer’s row, with the M&M Boys Dmitriy Muserskiy (who I’ve written a little about before) and Maxim Mikhaylov undoubtedly leading the way. At 7-foot-2, I’m pretty sure Muserskiy is the tallest player going right now. Russia are so strong up the middle, with the likes of Nikolay Apalikov and Taras Khtey (floor captain at the London Olympics), that they don’t even need him to play there anymore. A 7-2 outside, holy hell. And even with all my gushing over him, he probably doesn’t have quite the same raw skill as the comparatively puny (a mere 6-foot-8) Mikhaylov, the most decorated player from the Olympics as he was named Best Hitter and Best Scorer. How the hell do you plan for a team like this?

Surprisingly, the coaching situation for this team is in a bit of doubt. With Vladimir Alekno leaving the team due to health reasons (and what a high note on which to leave it), the national federation have signed Andrei Voronkov to take his place. The weird part is it’s only for two years, not a full four. He isn’t committing to a full Olympic cycle at the helm. Can’t say I understand that. If you have personal reasons to not want to commit, that’s understandable, but why would you commit for two years but not four? I suppose there’s no reason he can’t sign a new contract in two years’ time to see the team through Rio and their defence of gold, but a team this strong deserves a little better than that from the top.

Voronkov is also coach of the Russian Super League team Lokomotiv, employer of national team setter Aleksandr Butko. He will continue to coach Lokomotiv while he also coaches the national team. All current members of the national team play in Russia’s league, but it’s still a desirable destination for foreign players (of which, by rule, a team can only employ 2 per season). It too is considered the literal successor of its Soviet forerunner, and typically its top three teams qualify for the CEV Champions League, the 2013 edition of which was won by none other than Lokomotiv.

So are we looking at a winner?

Holy crap, yes. They’re my pick to win the whole tournament. I know, brave pick going with the reigning Olympic champions, but the truth is that that Olympic win last year was probably them overachieving a little. They probably weren’t “really” that good yet. Which means they’re still going to get better for a few years. Muserskiy and Mikhaylov will both be 28 come Rio, and that’s typically right around an athlete’s peak in most sports. They should be dominant wherever they go, and I see no reason why they wouldn’t be sent to the World League this year.

They may not lose one single match in pool play, considering they get Italy at home. I’m willing to bet by the end of pool play, you could count on one hand the number of sets they lose. Their road trips are to Cuba and Germany, and despite the fact that they appear lower in the rundown, neither should present a significant challenge. This team is just too damned good. I’ll be absolutely stunned if they’re not playing in the gold medal match.