anna baranska

poland lost the final. they still have a chance to qualify for beijing, but if you look at the game, the first two sets were lost because of their own mistakes. poland played like champs in the third set, 25-11 can you believe it. then the fourth set was won. the fifth set was going well at first, and then russia just turned it on. if you ask me, the second set should have been won. poland threw this game away. and most disappointingly, anna baranska wasn't there. i feel tt marco bonitta made a mistake. she came on too late in the fifth set. she should have started in the fifth set. i know she din play in the third and fourth and poland had won these, and that she wasnt on top form tt day, but she is a match winner. she should have been in, if not fr the start of the fifth, at least come on earlier. esp when they started falling behind.

but to be really honest, anna baranska played poorly in the final. did have some important points, but she was much better against holland and serbia.


anyway marco bonitta is like volleyball's jose mourinho.


here's my dream 12 fr wad i have seen

starting 6

anna baranska (pol)
the stylish number 11 is, like i mentioned, a match-winner. but she is also very versatile in that she can play behind and in front, although i think she is better staying on the flanks and attacking the ball fr there.


debby stam (ned)
the classy number 16 is a very consistent player. plays at the back, reliable in defence, yet has the ability to pop up to score some important points for the team. she is very competitive, very perfectionistic, very demanding of herself.

manon flier (ned)
the number 12 is probably the pin-up girl of dutch volleyball. she is simply the star of the dutch attack. looking at her spikes and scoring record, it is not difficult to see why.

ekaterina gamova (rus)
the 2.02m tall number 11 is half of the world's tallest block in the world. i dun really like her because i think she is not arrogant, but condescending to her opponents. she is a very good player no doubt, one of the reasons why the russians are so good, but i dun really like her personality, cos i think she has crossed the boundary of arrogance. anyway i think a very big reason why she is so good is really her height.

liubov sokolova (rus)
the number 5 and captain of russia is quite an all-rounder, consistent and steady, bringing stability to the team.

eleonora dziekiewicz (pol)

the number 3 makes very, very few mistakes. all-rounder who comes from deep to score important points.

Bench

milena sadurek (pol)
the number 13 is at the heart of most of the polish attacks, setting up teammates for spikes. and i think she does a pretty good job as well.

britzika molnar (serb)
the number 7 controls play from the back and also comes up with important points for the team.

maja ognjenovic (serbia)
what i like about the number 10 is her clever play, especially her lobs. very classy player, i must say.

ivana djerisilo(serbia)
the number 3's play is very balanced. like sokolova, she has a stabilising effect on the team.

malgorzate glinka (pol)
the number 7 played like a woman possessed against russia to pull poland back from the brink. of course they lost in the end, but i was wondering at the end of it all why she isn't the captain. the polish captain spend half the game on the bench. i dun really understand. the captain has to be there playing, making things happen, and i thought that was what glinka did very well.

katarzyna skowronska (pol)
the number 1 is basically an outside hitter. i think she does her job well, which is to score. not quite in the league of gamova or flier, but nevertheless still important to poland.