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Happy national holiday to every Bulgarian here! :D @Sllaveq - I got goosebumps from the anthem!

Zyta,your god doesn't have a team right now...pull some strings around,will ya? ;)

@Sllaveq - haha,yeah! It's actually kinda nice to know that our commentator isn't the only one who can't speak correctly :D

Well,if anyone here is gonna defend that song choice,it'd be me :) Good job,ray,though may be you could have cut the first few seconds of the track with the sound of them getting in the car ;)

@champion and raylight - haha,that's sweet you guys,but it's not like I'm clinically depressed ? I'm just trying to be realistic about our team's abilities - it might surprise you,but as a person I actually have a very positive outlook on life ?

@HCLT - Yeah,I know...we've had that conversation before ? I was trying to make a point about something else,but failed lol

Extravanzza is a disco club in Varna and I can tell you that REALLY bad injures have happened there. Once when I came back at home after visiting the questionable club, my head was so injured that I slept 22 hours ...

haha Sorry,won't make fun of that again :D

I don't like it too, I want to play faster

Don't we all?...(sigh)
Now we go back to champion's suggestion :

Fact: We don’t have specialists, who could develop proper reception/defense/setters technique in Bulgaria. Why cant we look for help from abroad? Get some specialists from South America – Argentina or Brazil. Learn from them, pay them good money, treat them well, give them space to work with our youngsters. In 5 years there will be results for sure!

As of right now,we have lemons so we make lemonades.I don't think that we have something wrong in our DNA that prevents us from being faster and more flexible,so I also believe that that would be the right direction for the future - swallow our pride(build on what grounds exactly?) and look for help abroad.

Camillo is working like crazy day & night, trying to help them as best as he can. I hope Rado will be wise enough to consider carefully & take into account his opinion.

Whatever we or other people say about Rado,he is someone who firmly believes in teamwork.After every win,title or whatever,he always credits his players,the entire staff surrounding the team,the fans...Watch this - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xl4dw0_yyyy-yyyyy-yyyyy-yyyyyyyyyy-yyyyy-yy-yyyyyy-yyyyy-yyyyyyyy-mvp_sport - in the interview after the final he explicitly says that he could not do it alone and that he could not stress enough how important is that everyone works as hard as they can and sacrifices whatever is necessary to achieve their goal.It's too bad that Trento's management realizes that,but our federation doesn't.You read his last interview,right?Absolutely every suggestion that he had for our so-called school was ignored,the president of the federation doesn't return his calls...I mean,is that the picture of everyone pulling together to better the future of this sport in our country?

I said it before, I am saying it again. They all - players, management team, coaches etc. have to pull everything and anything, possible and impossible out of themselves, put all efforts together and try to do their ultimate best.

Amen,sister!
If we're being realistic that's in the range of "very hard" to "next to impossible",but your optimism has been really contagious in the last couple of days and for better or worse,my hope that this just might happen has grown as well :)

Haha I actually remember a few people on our forums freaking out over He-who-shall-not-be-named having angina before our last matches with Brazil in the WL 2010...yeah,'cause that's what got us ?
To be fair,though,I know what injuries raylight was referring to and they were really serious(no “cut-while-shaving” extravaganza ? ). But again,I don't think they've been our main problem and especially since this is a problem that every team faces,can't be an excuse.

C’mon… We saw Giba with a tibial stress fracture at 2011 World Cup and nobody made a fuss.

Fuss???I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW ABOUT IT!Well,it's Giba after all...why bother writing a few lines on your site about him,who cares?

Man,did you seriously compared Grbic to Zhekov?Because with the exception of last year,he was their setter,right?

We are 7 mln, no 70, injuries are fatal for us.

Yes,I said I get it.I only explained how the constant whining about injuries stopping us from achieving great things is viewed by most people.

Our flaws can't stop us, we stop ourselves

Isn't that the same thing?

This really isn't going anywhere,my friend ?

Ray,it's that kind of attitude(looking for excuses)that drives foreign fans against us(Bulgarian fans) and subsequently doesn't really make them support our team.You can't say we were at a good enough level for medals and then go on to say that "little things" like COACHING and physical shape stopped us.I'll give you the last WL - yes,we had a lot of problems,but we still had a golden opportunity after barely qualifying for the finals and getting in the easier group to get in top 4 for the first time in 4 years and we missed it...And not because the stars weren't aligned in our favor,but because we couldn't take (a really weak at the time) Poland.
At the Euro this year - who's at fault that we didn't beat Slovakia?If we had done that,there would have been no way of us going against Russia that early on.
About 2010,I was actually happy with the way we played during that year(WL and WCH). We know what stopped us from getting a better result then.
Yes,we have mental problems.I don't know why we can't get a sport psychologist or whatever...If freaking Velasco isn't above working with such specialists(according to some people this shows that a coach can't communicate well enough with his players and therefore isn't that good bla-bla)then why do we think we are?
The other problems that you mentioned such as bad reception,predictable setting and etc. are not small rocks at all.That's why I'm always annoying people here by going on and on saying what a miracle our few bronze medals are ? And they really are - we're the only team in Top 10(still!...another miracle)with only one setter and no stable receiver,except out libero!
About the injuries - we're not the only team that gets them,you know? ? It's just that our media only informs us of our misfortunes,making us think that other countries have it easy and the situation in every other team but ours is all flowers and rainbows,there's a world conspiracy against Bulgaria and etc.I understand what you mean - that we don't have "a bench",right?Yeah,that sucks,but again - you see it as a reason for a loss,but most people look at it as an excuse.

@champion - I can't believe I didn't think of that clip myself...The USA sure is a magical land ?
@pearl - Unfortunately,it's real.The girl was a contestant on American Idol a few years ago and did that show("Are you smarter than a 5th grader") for charity.



Oh,I'm sure they loved it.We're very proud of its international success haha

When I saw that I was sure you couldn't resist to show everyone the glory of "Ken li" once again...don't know how you contained yourself lol

haha But for me nothing can beat "mo-mo-mountains" from that one - https://volleybox.net/interview-with-matey-kaziyski-m2077 ?

@HCLT - Those clips are pure comedy gold!Do you by any chance have a video of me speaking English? ?

As opposed to everyone else who plays to lose? ;)

Well,then he has no excuse lol

Yeah,I know he speaks a lot of languages,but English seems to be his weakest one ?



haha,yeah ? I guess that's how it's pronounced in Italian?

I didn't mean "we" as fans,but "we" as our NT ? As much as we(fans) would love the fate of our team to be like the one of "The little engine that could",most of the fans here don't seem to think this is likely to happen.Tell me you haven't noticed it ? We(NT) don't look like a team that can reach Top 4,so we are not as interesting - it's understandable that a Brazilian wouldn't be pulling for us,you know what I mean?

@HCLT - I for one appreciate your honesty and don't take offense in you keeping your fingers crossed for Italy and Serbia winning the qualification over us.I perfectly understand how we must look like to most of the fans here,but I have no choice but to support our team and hope for the best and the impossible(or as champion called it - nothing :D). As you said,the crowd we'll give the guys an extra push and in the past that have proved to help them :)
About Poland - 100% agree that the WC was their best tournament last year(Wino 4eva !!!,haha) and their other medals weren't quite as deserved,to put it mildly,but the fact that they got a medal from every tourney in '11 gave their team a huge confident boost and despite comments I've read here by some Polish fans,I've never thought that they lack in that department,so now they look like they're really out for blood :D I'm really jealous of that,if I have to be honest,that's what I want to see on our guys faces - determination,not a look suggesting they're experiencing some agonizing toothache...
You're also right about Germany - there were reasons to believe that they're "rising",so to speak,and I actually thought they we're gonna do better than Poland at the ECH,but they just completely fell apart.I don't know what happened there - I think when they let Lozano go,the official statement said something about him not being able to communicate with the players anymore or something...I really don't remember that well,but they were definitely putting all the blame on him.I'm not expecting any results with the new guy,even though they have quality players.I actually hope that they won't qualify - in my dreams we win in Sofia,Serbia wins in Germany and Italy wins in Italy :)
Thanks for the Giba info,but you just about broke my heart...I was hoping that he'll heal 'till the finals and Bernardinho will let us see him in action...OK,this is gonna make me sound like a terrible person and I know the real tragedy would be Giba nor being able to play at the Olympics(can anyone imagine that?For real?),but I SO wanted to see him play live.When it was announced we we're gonna host the WL finals in his last year with Brazil's squad I couldn't believe my luck...and it turns out I shouldn't have...At least I still have Dante :D
@pearl - I'm with you on the "Americans and the Olympics" thing.In every sport they only care about the Olympics.But I think that this year things are not gonna pan out for them like before.Not to say that they don't have talent or anything,but they're not at the level that a returning champion should be.Like Ball said months ago( http://www.fivb.org/EN/volleyball/competitions/WorldCup/2011/Men/Blog.asp),a lot of things need to change and I don't think they'll have the time to do so,so my money(and heart :) )is on Cuba taking the spot.

@Zakonka - It's still impressive :)