European League 2009

Teams:
Pool A: Spain, Turkey, Croatia and Great Britain
Pool B: Germany, Greece, Belgium and Romania
Pool C: Slovakia, Portugal, Belarus and Austria

Schedule:
1st Leg: June 5-7
2nd Leg: June 12-14
3rd Leg: June 19-21
4th Leg: June 26-28
5th Leg: July 3-5
6th Leg: July 10-12
The Final Four will be organized next July 17-19 (venue to be officially confirmed by the end of next January).

Quote from YavorD

Does anyone know the exact venues (cities) of the pool stage games? I know Germany will host Greece in Bremen , but, unfortunately, I won't be in Bremen when the games take place This is why I wondered whether anyone can provide me with some more info regarding the hosting cities and especially those in Germany 10x in advance!

Bremen: Germany - Greece
Duren: Germany - Belgium
Bamberg: Germany - Romania

European League starts on Friday.

Pool A
05.06.2009 19:30 Spain - Great Britain
06.06.2009 19:30 Spain - Great Britain
06.06.2009 16:30 Turkey - Croatia
07.06.2009 15:30 Turkey - Croatia

Pool B
05.06.2009 19:00 Greece - Belgium
06.06.2009 17:00 Greece - Belgium LIVE on laola.tv
06.06.2009 20:30 Romania - Germany LIVE on laola.tv
07.06.2009 20:30 Romania - Germany LIVE on laola.tv

Pool C
05.06.2009 20:25 Austria - Belarus
06.06.2009 17:00 Austria - Belarus
05.06.2009 20:00 Slovakia - Portugal
06.06.2009 20:00 Slovakia - Portugal

Legendary Velasco scores first success with the Spaniards
Valladolid, Spain, June 5, 2009. The Spaniards easily beat Great Britain tonight in their debut in the 2009 European League. Great Britain played in a competitive way, excelling in the second set, but Spain had not ups and downs and finally achieved the victory (25-23, 25-23, 25-16). The match was characterized by a young line up for both teams and the much awaited debut of the new Spanish head coach, legendary Argentinean Julio Velasco.
There were many reasons for this match to be full of newness. The players of both teams were mainly very young and these countries faced each other for the first time ever, due to the recent establishment of the British selection. Furthermore, all the attention was directed to the Spanish new trainer, Julio Velasco, who was sitting for the first time on the bench of the local heroes.
Velasco decided to include two beginners in his starting line up for this first match in the European League: Abel Bernal and Sergio Noda. Hernán, Barcala, Rodríguez, Salas and Lobato completed the starting six.
During the first set, the Spaniards performed stronger than the Britons, but this difference was not notable enough in the scoreboard. That was why the Spanish trainer decided to make changes on the right side, letting Falasca and Saucedo to get into the court. Finally, the hosts sailed away to clinch the first set.
The same fourteen players were lined up in the second set. There was no trace of the shaky British reception that had characterized the first set frustrating their attacks. In the second set, the Brits improved their game, forcing Julio Velasco to use up his two time-outs, afraid of a possible British surprise. The visitors fought looking for the tie, but a failed serve of Miller gave Spain the opportunity to notch the set, and Noda did not waste it and finished it with a direct serve.
Great Britain had no more opportunities to resist in the third set. Spain was very solid finishing the job at 25-16 with the same six players that had tipped off the match.
Both teams will face again tomorrow, with a much better knowledge of their respective way of playing. Spain will seek for another victory trying to finish its first weekend in the European League with two triumphs, and Great Britain will try to win in order to add up some successful matches in their recent international history.

Spain - Great Britain 3:0 (25:23, 25:23, 25:16) stats

Home defeat for Greece in Orestiada
Belgium successfully opened its campaign in the 2009 Men’s European League with a 3:1 victory against host Greece. It was the pressure established through their services that gave the team of Belgium the chance to celebrate its first victory (25-22, 35-33, 20-25, 25-23). Belgian Christof van Goethem scored 10 points, but most substantially 5 aces, whereas the captain of the visitors, Jo van Decraen was just perfect in attacking, counting 15 points with 100% of efficiency. Local hero Apostolis Armenakis was the best scorer of the match with 31 points. The home team had unexpected help from some young players coming from
the bench (such as Rizopoulos and Fragkos), but that wasn't enough to prevent Belgium from gaining the victory. The two teams that got into the court with 45 minutes of delay due to the long duration of the previous match fought hardly, especially in the second set, which ended
at 35-33. "My team played a really good match. We avoided taking risks in the third and fourth set, but fortunately we were able to put pressure with our service, increasing the level of difficulty of the Greek reception", said the coach of Belgium, Claudio Gewehr and the team captain, Decraen added: "It was a long and tiring day, but we were lucky and good enough to win. I think our service made the difference".
The Greek head coach Kostas Arseniadis, seemed pleased, despite the loss. "Our profit from this match was the performance of our young players. We fought against a team that recently qualified to the third preliminary phase of the World Championship. We could have won. I hope in the near future we will stop using the word could, and start winning". The game's top scorer, Apostolis Armenakis, said: "We are sending encouraging messages, but we have to remember that we have been playing together as a team for a really short period of time so the results are yet to come".

Greece - Belgium 1:3 (22:25, 33:35, 25:20, 23:25) stats

Austria opens 2009 campaign with a victory against Belarus
The first game of the 2009 European League ended with a victory for the Austrians against Belarus. In the second set the Austrians built up a lead of 5 points (16:11) and the Belarusians were not able to bounce back and lost the set at 18-25. The Austrians had a strong start in the third set and Belarus was not able to catch up the points they had lost. The fourth set was a close call but the Austrians could still manage to win.
It took the Austrians some time to find their game. In the first set they were able to put the Belarusians under pressure with their service, but they did not show a very good performance in reception. They therefore lost the first set at 22-25. In the course of the match the Austrians were able to improve their reception and especially their blocks were getting a lot better. After 26 minutes the team of Claudio Cuello was able to clearly win the second set with a 25-18. The third set was similar. The Austrians, who had never won against Belarus before, were ahead by 7 points at a certain point. Towards the end of the set the opponents were getting stronger but the Austrians again won the set 25-20. The fourth set was full of ups and downs. The Austrians were able to take over the lead twice but the Belarusians did not give up and were able to catch up. It was a close game but in the end the Austrians were able to hold their nerves and won the game at 25-21. Especially Michael Laimer showed a very strong performance. After Philip Schneider with 21 points – best scorer of the match – he was able to make 18 points for his team.
Austrian head coach Claudio Cuello said: “I was not under pressure so much because the players performed really well. We’re improving tactically. In the first set we could also see that we have the means to beat the Belarusians.”
Austrian captain Daniel Gavan: “There’s no better way to begin. The team played very strongly. From the second set on we were able to put the others under pressure with our serve and blocks. Everything is possible if we win on Saturday.”
Peter Kleinmann, President auf the Austrian Volleyball Federation, concluded: “This was a very important and surprising victory. The team fought until the end and played with their hearts”.

Austria - Belarus 3:1 (22:25, 25:18, 25:20, 25:21) stats