RESULTS - MATCH INFO - STANDINGS
07-06-2008 : Korea. Lost 2-3. A huge dissappointment against Korea. There were various chances throughout the game that we did not take. The main problem was not being consistent enough with our passing on easy service. This put our setters under a lot of pressure and in turn put our hitters under a lot of pressure. The Koreans played a good match in attack and this forced us to be the same with ours. Unfortunately we came close but we were not able to take the win.
Japan. Lost 0-3. Leading 7-1 in the first set everything was going to plan. Slowly some errors came into our game, we became tentative and inconsistent as the Japanese gained in confidence. What could have been and possibly should have been a won set was lost. The 2nd and 3rd sets were very close needing advantage points to decide them. Bad news for us as the 10,000 strong crowd got what they came for. Unfortunately ball control let us down in general and we lost another very close game. This is a big defeat and it nearly puts us out of the Olympics. Only mathematics keeps us in with a chance. We have to win our remaining games and Japan has to lose and then there has to be a point difference in our favour. Also Korea is still in with a chance. All of us are hugely disappointed as we didn’t quite play up to our potential in the last 3 games.
Algeria. Win 3-1. A tough game with the results of the last 3 games resting on our shoulders. We struggled to play well but ultimately we got the desired result. Nathan provided the spark today lifting the team to victory. Great to win and to keep the dream alive for another day. (Photos - Courtesy of FIVB)
03-06-2008 : Italy loss. Well we were comprehensively outplayed by Italy. They started the match very well and put us under a lot of pressure. The 2nd set was probably the worst set we have played. It was an embarrassing score-line where we managed only 9 points. There were moments where everything we tried didn’t work and others where we just errored ourselves out of the game. We could do nothing to stop the Italian onslaught.
01-06-2008 : 3-0 win against Argentina. What a great victory. The whole team played a very good match. The first time we have beaten Argentina in official competition. In all areas we played well and this game is very important for the final olympic qualification. Next we have Italy. This will be a tough test as they played much better today after their shaky start. Paul Carroll was the best player for us today with 22 points but the whole team contributed and played very well. Keep the feet on the ground as there is a long way to go and nothing is won yet.
31-05-2008 : A good first victory against Thailand. 25-12, 25-15, 25-14. A great display of serving and blocking. There was a clear difference between the teams in all areas. Lets move on to Argentina who will be a much stronger test.
30-05-2008 : Japan. Well it’s great to finally arrive. The team is ready and have been looking forward to the qualification for a long time. Thailand, Our first opponent is a strange team. They are missing a few players from the Asian Championships so we don’t have much information on them. We have had to wait a long time for our chance so now we have to make the most of it. It’s time to play.
The schedule for the Olympic Qualification tournament in Japan :
| Date | Match | |||
| 31-May (Sat.) | 1st Day | Korea | vs. | Argentina |
| Australia | vs. | Thailand | ||
| Algeria | vs. | Iran | ||
| Japan | vs. | Italy | ||
| 1-Jun (Sun.) | 2nd Day | Thailand | vs. | Algeria |
| Argentina | vs. | Australia | ||
| Italy | vs. | Korea | ||
| Japan | vs. | Iran | ||
| 2-Jun (Mon.) | Rest Day | |||
| 3-Jun (Tue.) | 3rd Day | Australia | vs. | Italy |
| Algeria | vs. | Argentina | ||
| Iran | vs. | Thailand | ||
| Japan | vs. | Korea | ||
| 4-Jun (Wed.) | 4th Day | Argentina | vs. | Iran |
| Italy | vs. | Algeria | ||
| Korea | vs. | Australia | ||
| Japan | vs. | Thailand | ||
| 5-Jun (Thu.) | Rest Day | |||
| 6-Jun (Fri.) | 5th Day | Algeria | vs. | Korea |
| Iran | vs. | Italy | ||
| Thailand | vs. | Argentina | ||
| Japan | vs. | Australia | ||
| 7-Jun (Sat.) | 6th Day | Italy | vs. | Thailand |
| Korea | vs. | Iran | ||
| Australia | vs. | Algeria | ||
| Japan | vs. | Argentina | ||
| 8-Jun (Sun.) | 7th Day | Iran | vs. | Australia |
| Thailand | vs. | Korea | ||
| Argentina | vs. | Italy | ||
| Japan | vs. | Algeria | ||