Best Players of World League 2013

haha, nice story ;) you made me laugh Sundfjord ;) were you first-six player? It had to be awesome to play against that kind of players!

Last November, my team played Ural Ufa in the Challenge Cup, with Vissotto, Falasca and Spiridonov in the lineup. After the match, we met with Vissotto and Falasca for a few drinks. We asked what Spiridonov was really like. Sometimes when you ask someone how a person is like, they will say "he's a crazy guy, haha" like it's a joke. But they answered dead serious, "he's crazy." :)

Aleksiev for best OH1, Pavlov instead of Sokolov, Grankin instead of Bruno, Lucao instead of Birarrelli - my opinion

Of course that most of them are friends, even MMA fighters drink together after a match between them ...

Sivozhelez played what some Russians called the match of his life, Spirik was just okay in the final. Anyway, Spiridonov is the best Russian left side, a remarkable player. If I were a team manager, I’d hire him.

Who’s bullshitting him? lol

Giba also likes him, they’re friends. So what? Nobody is crazy to deny Spirik has talent.

There are lots of funny stories involving Spiridonov. He said once as he plays at his best only Giba can be considered above him. Very modest and funny guy. If I find the interview he gave before the final with Vissotto I’ll post it here. Spirik mixing some broken English and Italian. “I’m mad, I’m mad… I love play Brazil and Italy, our stronger opponents… It’s a war, I have to tease, I love that, I can’t change”, said the Russian, shaking his head all the time. Vissotto laughing and hugging him.

I guess you follow Samica on Twitter, so you must have seen Sami mocking the Russian.

As for the players, people here probably think they punch each other in the corridors. After the awarding ceremony, Russians, Brazilians and Italians hang out in a nightclub in Mar del Plata.

Spiridonov and Sivozhelez show very very high level in final ! Please just stop bullshit about Spirik ! Like AngelosAlexiou said he is a real Showman he've got hot blood and fighting spirit and this kind of players miss.He love to play with the opponents and public.By the way he is very appreciated my many other great players (Vissoto,Samica...) Sivozhelez during final was awesome he touch so many ball in defence and was clean on receiving and make important points and maybe 2,3 aces. Muserskiy prove one more time that he is the best middle hitter in the world (but some problem with his serve in final.) Pavlov show to the world that he's top class player and now whe Mikhaylov will be back Russia will such an ARMY

One award is missing Best Showmen: Spiridonov :D He is amazing

Like most of you the award i dont agree with, is about Best opposite. Sokolov is super opposite but hes performance in the final 6 was nothing compares what he can really do. Also i would expect Sivozhelez from Russia in one of the two awards for best wing spikers! He was very solid all the tournament.

@TheKhann: FIVB chose something like “the tournament ideal squad”. Dunno if you noticed but the MVP was out of that team, which is pretty weird. You should read again, I didn’t say he deserved or not an award. I said he was best blocker of the finals, and he was. He didn’t care, neither do I. It was just funny to see he hadn’t realized that – typical of Lucas. If playing badly in the final match were the reason to deny some player an award, then Bruno should give back that one, since he didn’t play well. BTW, when you award a blocker, for example, you have to use the stats. I remember he had six blocks in the first match against Russia, then four against Canada, not to mention the rebounds (Mastrangelo was a top blocker not because of his stuff blocks, but because of his defensive work while blocking). It’s different when you choose a setter or a libero, although many times FIVB awarded second-class setters by using stats.

If you are to look just at stats, Lukas has a bit better % than the others, but did nothing in the final, nothing as in 0 blocks. No idea why Sokolov was selected for best anything, he was the disappointed in the tournament for me.

Okay, I really like Sokolov, he’s an amazing player, but what are the criteria for giving him that award? Being top scorer? No, Pavlov was. What’s the problem giving the Russian opposite two awards? FIVB obviously didn’t want to let Team Bulgaria leave Mar del Plata with empty hands. C’mon, they don’t need that. Not fair. All this has happened before and will happen again. How can someone be the best opposite when another guy who plays in the same position was MVP? Doesn’t make any sense, does it? ;-) Lucas was the best blocker and didn’t get an award, but he didn’t even notice till some reporters told him. He didn’t seem to care anyway. lol

grankin Finals Bruno regular games

J agree....Bruno in the total competition was better of Grankin.

grankin was the best setter in my opinion