It's a pity that the Chinese women's volleyball team lost 1-3 to the Canadian women's volleyball team again and suffered its first defeat in the 2024 World League. The reason why fans feel that the psychological gap is very big is because in the last round, the Chinese team just reversed the top-ranked American team 3-1, but they didn't expect to be interrupted by the lower-ranked Canadian team before they were happy.
The Canadian women's volleyball team has repeatedly defeated the Chinese women's volleyball team
Although the Canadian team is ranked lower than the Chinese team in the world, they are not afraid of us, and they are even more and more confident.
As early as the 2021 World Women's Volleyball League before the Tokyo Olympics, the second Chinese women's volleyball team lost 2-3 to the Canadian team, which allowed them to break through the first line of defense of "defeating the Chinese women's volleyball team". When the Canadian women's volleyball team defeats the all-main Chinese women's volleyball team 3-2 at the home of the Chinese team in the qualifiers for the Paris Olympics in September 2023, we should know that the current Canadian women's volleyball team is no longer the third-rate team it once was, and the Chinese women's volleyball team is no longer the super-first-class team it once was.
In this rematch, the Chinese women's volleyball team lost again, which is equivalent to facing the Canadian women's volleyball team "two consecutive defeats", which is enough to explain some problems. For example, the Chinese players have always been unable to receive strong jumps, unable to limit the strong attacks of Van Rijk and Gray, the Canadian team is very tenacious in the back row, and the basic skills of the players are better than most European and American teams, and so on.
But it would be sad not to let a player outside the top ten in the world become the "nemesis" of the Chinese women's volleyball team.
How do I qualify for the rest of the Games?
According to the volleyball selection rules for the Paris Olympics, 12 teams will qualify for the women's volleyball team, and the host French women's volleyball team will directly get a place.
In last year's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, six teams, including Turkey, Brazil, Serbia, the United States, Poland and the Dominican Republic, "went straight to Paris". For continents that do not qualify for a direct place, the highest-ranked team gets a quota place. Kenya is the only team in Africa to participate in this year's World League, and although they are only ranked 20th in the world, they are already the highest-ranked team in the African region, which is equivalent to securing an Olympic quota in advance. There are 12 quota places for the Paris Olympics - 1 for the host French women's volleyball team - 6 direct quota places - 1 quota place for Africa, and in the end only 4 places remain. The French women's volleyball team (17th in the world) and the Kenyan women's volleyball team (20th in the world) could not break into the top 10 in the world, while the six teams that went straight to Paris were all in the top 10.
Although no team in Asia has been selected for the Paris Olympics for the time being, because the strongest Chinese women's volleyball team and the Japanese women's volleyball team are unlikely to fall out of the top ten at the same time, the remaining four places will inevitably be all the top ten teams in the world.
This has also caused teams that have won Olympic quotas early to "train" in the World League with young players or new squads. For teams striving for Olympic qualification, this year's World League is the "Olympic Qualifying Tournament".
The Canadian women's volleyball team has a clear goal
The Canadian women's volleyball team, ranked 11th in the world, is on the verge of Olympic qualification, and they are only one step away from the world's top 10. They are goal-oriented, full of momentum, striving for every victory, and trying to concede one less game. In addition to losing to the host Brazilian women's volleyball team in the first round, they won the top 10 Dominican Republic 3-0 in the second round, and the top 10 Chinese team in the third round, and the last two games have more than 10 new points in the account, not only opening up the difference with the 12th German women's volleyball team, but also less than 3 points with the world's 10th Dutch women's volleyball team.
The Chinese women's volleyball team does not have enough sense of crisis
On the other hand, the Chinese women's volleyball team, in addition to facing the weak South Korean women's volleyball team, facing the United States and Canada, has to lose a game at the beginning. Many people feel that the Chinese women's volleyball team has a "double insurance" to advance to the Paris Olympics: as long as the points exceed the Japanese team, they can qualify as the No. 1 in Asia; Even if we are overtaken by Japan, we can still rely on the world's top 10 rankings to qualify for the Olympics. It is with this kind of paralyzing and careless thinking that it doesn't matter if you win one more game or one less game, but the difference between 3-0 and 3-1 points is a few points, and who can qualify in the end may be determined by these points! What's more, it's only the third round of the group stage, if it's still in this state in the future, how many points will be the difference in points accumulated after 12 group games?
The Chinese women's volleyball team is seventh, and the Japanese women's volleyball team with "three consecutive wins" is eighth, and the difference between the two sides is only 3 points.
The fans called for Zhu Ting
Looking at the strength of the Chinese women's volleyball team at this stage, no matter what kind of opponent you encounter, you must fight hard to have a chance of winning.
The biggest shortcoming of the Chinese women's volleyball team is still in Li Yingying's diagonal position. In the first two years, Wang Yunrui was chosen, her first pass and defense were good, but her offensive ability was weak. This year, we focused on cultivating Wu Mengjie, but in the past two games, the offensive ability is acceptable, but the pass is unstable, as if it has become a "minefield" for the team, and I don't know when it will suddenly be chased by the opponent and "exploded". This year, Cai Bin also brought Zhang Changning with her guidance, although she actively carried out recovery training, but her offensive strength was not as good as before, and the only bright spot was the serve.
At this time, many fans were calling for Zhu Ting again. When Zhu Ting didn't come back, the trolls said that she was "unpatriotic" and "only knew that she was making a small amount of money".
Some time ago, it was determined that Zhu Ting would return, and at first she said that she saw the good results of the Chinese women's volleyball team and came back to share the honor; Now that the Chinese women's volleyball team is in difficulty, she said that she "played the score", why didn't she "return to the team" as soon as possible?
The Chinese women's volleyball team defeated the Canadian team 6-13 in terms of serve. The three main attackers Li Yingying, Zhang Changning, and Wu Mengjie were really difficult to parry in the face of strong jumps, and the opponent served directly at the end of the fourth game to end the game. And Zhu Ting has been playing in Europe for a long time, so she must be more comfortable with strong jumping; If she is there and faces European and American teams, she can definitely help the team in terms of passing.
But Zhu Ting just finished the Serie A league at the end of last month, and her body was in a very tired state. If you fly back home from Italy and then fly to Brazil with the team immediately, your body has not been able to get enough rest, it can easily lead to injury. If she is injured again, it is likely that Zhu Ting's entire career will be reimbursed in advance. From the Women's Volleyball World League to the Paris Olympics, this is a series of high-intensity events that require sufficient physical reserves to cope. Zhu Ting rested in China for half a month, and waited for her teammates to finish the race in Brazil before meeting in China to prepare for the Macau leg at the end of this month, which is the best choice.
Therefore, for Zhu Ting's return, it is still the same sentence: lower your expectations and don't put too much pressure on her. In case the results of the Chinese women's volleyball team are not satisfactory in the future, don't dump her again.