The 2024 World Women's Volleyball League Macao Station has entered the last match day, and the Chinese women's volleyball team against the Italian women's volleyball team is the final match of this station. China and Italy are the two highest-ranked teams that have not qualified for the Paris Olympics for the time being.
Since the World League this year, the Chinese women's volleyball team has achieved 5 wins and 2 losses, and the world ranking remains sixth in the world, but the difference with the seventh place Japanese women's volleyball team is only 7.25 points. This is because the two games that the Chinese team lost were deducted big points, and the opponents who lost were direct contenders for Olympic qualification. Among them, 1-3 to Canada was deducted 11.01 points, and 1-3 to Japan was deducted 8.96 points.
The competition for the first position in Asia between the Chinese and Japanese women's volleyball teams has become white-hot. The world ranking points of the Chinese women's volleyball team increased from 321.21 points to 336.87 points, an increase of only 15.66 points. The world ranking points of the Japanese women's volleyball team increased from 307.36 points to 329.62 points, an increase of 22.6 points.
The Japanese women's volleyball team has all four games in Macau, only losing 2-3 to Brazil in the first game, and then defeating France, China, and Dominica one after another. The last opponent of the Chinese women's volleyball team in Macau, the Italian women's volleyball team, is the strongest opponent in this station, ranked fifth in the world, ahead of the Chinese team. A 3-0 win for China will give them 10.7 points, a 3-1 win will give them 8.2 points, and a 3-2 win will give them 5.7 points, with Italy having to deduct the corresponding points. On the contrary, if the Italian women's volleyball team wins 3-0, it will get 9.3 points, if it wins 3-1, it will get 6.8 points, and if it wins 3-2, it will get 4.3 points, and the Chinese team will also deduct the corresponding points. Therefore, in the showdown between the Chinese and Italian women's volleyball teams, the Chinese team must win at least one game, otherwise the sixth position in the world will not be guaranteed. If they can win 3-0 or 3-1, they can also overtake the Italian team and move to fifth place.
The former Italian women's volleyball head coach Mazzanti was at odds with the players, and last year's Olympic women's volleyball qualifiers did not choose Egnu, only brought Antropova, and the results were not as good as the American women's volleyball team and the Polish women's volleyball team, and they did not have a chance to go straight to Paris.
After the current head coach of the Italian women's volleyball team, Velasco took over, this time he brought both Agnu and Antropova to Macau at the same time. The Italian women's volleyball team has only lost to Poland and Brazil in the previous seven games, and these two teams are also the only teams to remain unbeaten in this year's World League. Italy and Brazil fought five games and lost 10-15 in the deciding game. They also won 3-1 against Turkey, adding 10.65 points at once.
Velasco mentioned in a previous interview: We don't know how the Chinese team playing at home will arrange Zhu Ting? This adds to the uncertainty of the game.
Not to mention that the Italians can't figure it out, the domestic fans of the Chinese women's volleyball team can't understand the head coach's employment strategy, and it is estimated that only Cai Bin himself knows. Could it be that Cai Bin has been "reluctant" to use Zhu Ting before, just to confuse the strongest opponent of the Italian women's volleyball team?