Yikes.
The hours turn into days and the days turn into weeks, don’t they? And then weeks became a month. That sure wasn’t the plan.
I’ve been working really long weeks lately, and when I come home I’ve just about dropped from exhaustion. Today is….not an exception. Eyes are bleary, and head will meet pillow as soon as ‘Publish’ is pressed.
I had been hoping to have most Sundays off over the summer, to at least be able to write up FIVB championship days, but that hasn’t really happened (obviously). Tomorrow will, again, not be an exception. It’s a pain, but the bills gotta get paid.
World League looks like it’s taken some interesting turns. Italy look to be winning Pool A, as a bit of a formality since their place in the finals by way of hosting them. Iran are hanging in quite well in what would surely be called the ‘Group of Death’ (if I may borrow the term from another current sporting event) if everyone were playing their top players. And while no one’s playing all their top players, Brazil are mostly playing recognisable names. Which makes their position at the bottom of the group all the more intriguing. It’s tight — only 8 points and two overall matches separate first from fourth — but last place is last place. They won’t be going back to the World League finals this season, that’s for sure.
The Americans have all but clinched the spot out of Pool B, with their squad largely led by recent (or still-current!) college boys. They need only beat Serbia once next week to ensure their spot in the finals round. It’s been a massive improvement over last year’s World League, and it’s got to have American fans cautiously confident for the Olympic quadrennial. The real surprise of this group is the Bulgarians. They’re not exactly bringing a D-squad (it’s maybe their B+-squad), so to be in last place on just 4 total points is surprising for the team that finished as semifinalists in the 2012 Olympics and the 2013 World League. A lot of those same players are on this roster, and they’ll hope to round into form ahead of the World Championships later this summer.
It’s the Belgians who look to have Pool C, in Group 2 (don’t try to make sense of it. Just don’t) sewn up. They need only a single point in their intercontinental-concluding two-fer with Finland to make the Group 2 final. I thought it was a bit of a hosing that Canada were forced into Group 2 after making the WL final round last season, and actually defeating Russia, but it’s hard to complain too loudly when they’re sitting at 6-4 with losses to both Finland and Australia. It’s been the A-squad going, so I’ll only hope they’re on their way to better form in Poland come September.
France and Argentina are in a dogfight for Pool D (their match tonight will decide it). At 0-11 with just a single point (for a 3-2 loss) are the Japanese. They’ve tended to be the FIVB’s favourite sons for some reason, but I think it’s reached the point where they need to again prove that they belong at this level. When it’s not even clear that you’re one of the top 28 teams in the world….yow. I don’t see very many familiar names on their stat sheets, but they’re not facing teams in their group that should be beating them this badly. Unless they’re just that bad. So I’ll hope they have to put-up-or-shut-up sometime soon. Probably won’t happen, though. Any of the four teams (Netherlands, Czech Republic, Portugal, South Korea) can still win Pool E.
Group 3 is further along than the first two — it actually has its championship and third-place final coming up tomorrow. Turkey and Cuba play for the honours; it’s good to see a once-proud Cuban team rebound from a miserable 2013 World League (their only loss this year is to Turkey, providing intrigue for the final). The third-place match pits China against Slovakia. Just like the other match, China’s only loss in the opening rounds was to the Slovaks. Presumably, the winners of those matches get promoted to higher groups next season (at the expense of the Japanese, hopefully), but I have to say that if World League remains this byzantine in coming years, it’ll sap my interest a little. My big complaint with the women’s World Grand Prix last season was that it had too many teams. This tourney has too many teams and too twisted a structure. A bad combination.
FIVB beach season has played out a lot differently than I may have expected. For each gender, only one team have claimed multiple golds so far (Nicolai/Lupo and Walsh/Ross). On the whole, there’s a ton of parity. Brazilian men have only two medals through five events, a silver and a bronze (both for Bruno/Alison). Pedro/Emanuel have come fourth twice, and Ricardo/Alvaro have yet to medal at all (though they’ll have their chance as they’re in semifinals tomorrow). American men have shown reasonably well — over the last two events, they’ve collectively got a complete set of medals. The team of Dalhausser/Rosenthal actually have the bronze from that set, though. Last week, Hyden/Bourne and Lucena/Doherty played for the gold in Berlin, with the first-named partnership coming out on top. And then this week? Both had to play the qualifier. It’s cruel sometimes. Dalhausser/Rosenthal remain alive in Stavanger to try to keep that medal string going.
If not in class and skill, then certainly in pure results — the world is catching up to the Brazilians. They’re a scant sixth on the medal table this season, though five silvers propel them to having the most total medals. The US, Germany, Italy, Latvia, and the Czech Republic (!!!) all have multiple golds to Brazil’s one. Are they checked out for the World Cup? We might find out in Gstaad in two weeks.
So in summary, I’m alive. Quite disappointed that I’ve been neglecting this so much. I can only try not to let it go so long again, but we’ll see. Your continued readership is very much appreciated!
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