Tokyo (Japan)

The 2007 World Cup began with a curious challenge between Europe and Asia. The two matches which opened the competition in Tokyo (Group A) were Serbia against Korea and Thailand versus Italy.
Thailand and Korea are the third and fourth Asiatic teams (Japan is Champion and China is the second). Italy and Serbia were last European Championship gold and silver medallist.

Whenever a European coach has to face an Asiatic squad he’s worried about the different rhythm. Japanese Volleyball players, as Chinese or Korean athletes, have to rely on their first-class passing and digging technique. That’s because they are shorter and less powerful than their mates coming from the “Old Continent”.
Generally you can see much more dynamism, movement and, to say the truth, more shrieking, among the Asian teams. They actually keep alive and last longer an amazing amount of rallies, chasing each ball, doesn’t matter if close, far, easy or impossible at all.
That’s why each European coach asks to their players to be patient and calm also during the long suffering rallies which distinguish these matches.
By now, I easily recognize the frustrated face of a strong attacker who cannot score although the opponent’s block was low and unsettled. They aren’t used to seeing such amazing digs.
Only if they succeed to control this negative emotion they can exploit completely their better attacking skills.

Jelena Nikolic (Serbian Spiker) told me right after the match: “I hate playing against these teams. If you spike high and long they… dig easily. If you attack harder lowering the arm, their block slows down the ball and they… dig easily. If you do a tip (short touch right behind the block) they… dig easily.”

They dig easily… but then, they can’t score points due to the short height and powerless.

Why Serbia won: I answered this above: it isn’t enough getting the opponents nervous by digging everything. Then it is necessary to score points and today Korean team never found the way to do it.

Why Italy won: The Italian coach Barbolini replace Serena Ortolani in starting line up with Manuela Secolo. He favours Secolo’s back row skills rather than Ortolani’s freshness and strength. It was the right choice to win today’s match. Moreover, Barazza’s block and Aguero’s attack were as much as necessary to overcome the first step of 2007 World Cup .

Why Japan won: Let’s ask Dominican players which is their best skill and they will answer without hesitation: the attack. The Caribbean players love spike but they are too predictable. They were so close to win the first game but the poor serving performance made the defeat obvious. In the other side Japan enhanced the “game volume” (the capability to play fine in each fundamentals) and Yanagimoto’s team get an effortless victory.

Bye bye andrea zorzi