You have right, Henrique, but Cuban case is exception. Exactly this limited game can be corrected with the experience in Italy, if Cuba can become land of liberty instead of prison of liberty, Cuba can improve significantly in volleyball, at least I think so. Look what happened with Juantorena's serve in Italy for example

Raylight, several teams reached the top without their players having “experience from Italy”. In fact, A1 take the players after they’re ready. Yes, they can get even better playing there, but the main Italian league wouldn’t hire those guys to build their game, they want players ready to kill. Maybe you just can’t see how limited the Cuban game is, or you just mentioned A1 trying a short cut to start talking about Trentino, Matey, Rado... ;-)

Henrique, all these players were at the same time in the NT, but they didn't have the experience from Italy which can make the difference

Volleymaster, these are the rules in his country – Hierrezuelo had to apologize to be accepted back into the team. In our opinion, those three players were trying to make a better life. For the government of their country, they were traitors trying to run away.

I don’t think they would have a big chance to fight for the gold. I told someone here about the team they had in the late nineties, with Marshall, Dennis, Pimienta, Diago and the Hernandez brothers. Can you imagine all those guys together? Many people, on several webforums, have mentioned this as a hypothetical situation, without knowing they actually played together. Guess what happened? They never reached the top – didn’t even get close. The problem in Cuban volleyball is more than having good players – they have plenty of them, with an amazing athleticism. Their main problems are lack of technique and poor tactics. Their results are based on the combination of an awesome strength with an unbelievable vertical.

Blockmaskinen, I don’t think Simon will apologize, like Hierrezuelo did. It’s unfortunate that we won't see him at the Olympics – he’s such an incredible player. I hope to see him back on the court – maybe in the near future in some club. However, it’d be great watching Simon playing again for the Cuban NT.

Why must Hierrezuelo apologize?
what did he do wrong?!?

I really hate this stupid nonsense.
They could have a team that could fight for the gold medal at the olympics in London!
They have the best MB in the world, but they don't use him!

Is Simon coming back?

I can't say what is it in the Serbian team but whenever they are not playing against Poland, I root for them. They're my second favourite team, after my own country, of course.

Cuba I really like to see them playing

SIMON AND LEAL DONT WILL PLAY UNTIL PASS 2 YEARS FOR ME I THINK AT LEAST SIMON WILL BE BACK IN DECEMBER OF 2012 OR MAYBE 2 MONTHS LATER THAT WHAT I KNOW ABOUT LEAL HE ARE FATHER ALREADY BUT NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT HIS PLANS

And some news about Simon and Leal ?

nice match! two of my favorite teams battling it out!

Hierrezuelo agreed to apologize to the federation and to the coach, that’s why he was accepted back into the team.

Seems like I missed something. Why is Hierrezuelo back in the NT? I thought he was banned as Simon, Leal and the rest was.

cuba ^_^