Finland, Germany and Portugal are close to book their spots for the final round
Luxembourg, May 28, 2010. The second round of qualifiers for the 2011 CEV Men’s European Championship started this afternoon with many interesting matches and a couple of teams, i.e. Germany and Portugal, approaching very quickly to book a spot for the final round to be played next year in Austria and Czech Republic. On the other hand, the competition for that single berth is still extremely tough in Pool A, C and D, where two or even three teams are still in full contention for that much wanted ticket. With a quite convincing performance against Great Britain in Heraklion, Finland is also still unbeaten and may celebrate the qualification for the European Championship already on Saturday. Stay tuned for more emotions to come!
Pool A in Tel Aviv (ISR)
Israel vs. Spain 1:3 (22-25, 25-15, 23-25, 14-25)
Hungary vs. Slovenia 2:3 (21-25, 29-27, 18-25, 25-19, 8-15)
Pool A stands out as one of the most unpredictable qualifiers for the 2nd round of the 2011 CEV Men’s European Championship. After the first round robin played last week in Maribor Slovenia topped the standings having scored a massive home victory against 2007 European champion Spain. This afternoon the second round robin tournament started in Tel Aviv with about 750 fans cheering for the local guys in their match against the Spaniards. After a very tight battle, Spain maintained solid nerves in the so-called “money time” to claim the first set 25-23, but Israel displayed some great Volleyball in the second section of the game, leading the way first 4:0 and then 12:4. Spain tried to claw back (18:13) but it was quite a late comeback and Israel squeezed in with a mighty 25-15. The third set was also extremely close, with a tie at 17, before Spain got a slight margin to cruise past for the final 25-23. The Israelis paid their price in the fourth set, with Spain sailing away in great fashion for the 25-14 that put an end to the local hopes to vie for a tie-break.
Today’s second game, starring Slovenia and Hungary, lasted for more than a couple of hours. Slovenia enjoyed the better start (25-21) but Hungary leveled the count after a tremendous final section of the second set. Slovenia sailed away pretty comfortably in the third set (25-18) but Hungary was not ready to bury the hatchet and called it for a tie-break. The Slovenians profited of their international experience to lead all the way through there for the final 15-8 to maintain the provisional leadership in that Pool, waiting for the decisive match against Spain.
Pool B in Heraklion (GRE)
Great Britain vs. Finland 0:3 (22-25, 22-25, 17-25)
Greece vs. Latvia 3:0 (25-13, 29-27, 25-17)
Finland and Greece started with victories their first day in the second tournament of the qualifier for the 2011 CEV European Championship being staged at the sports hall of Alikarnassos. They both beat their opponents, Great Britain and Latvia respectively, with a 3:0. Finland had a slow start against Great Britain that still remains without a victory in the second preliminary round. The team of Berruto finally confirmed the estimation that they are the favorite and won the game with a 3:0. Best scorer for Finland was Mikko Oivanen with 11 points, followed by Shumov and Matti Oivanen who scored 10 each. Berruto said after the game: “After the matches in Latvia we travelled for 10 hours and had only two hours of practice. That’s why we didn’t start well in all the sets. It was very important for us to win and we did it”. The Dutch coach of Great Britain, Harry Brokking commented: “We are a new nation in Volleyball. We have no Volleyball culture but playing against top teams, like Finland for instance, we get better. That’s why we are here”. Finland’s captain Jukka Lehtonen commented: “There was a lot of pressure on our side being the favorites for winning. I believe that in a few years Great Britain will be a tough opponent for every team”. The team captain of Great Britain Benjamin Pipes said: “Finland is a stronger team, with more experience. The important thing for us is that we are constantly improving. We want to think positive for our next match against Greece”.
The hosting country Greece made the fans of Crete very happy by starting the competition with a 3:0 victory against Latvia, which gives them a good chance of finishing second in the pool and qualifying for the home and way matches in September. “We are doing our best improving day by day. We served well and had a good blocking system. We haven’t been practicing together for a short while so, of course our main goal is to qualify for the next round but we also try to grow better as time goes by” said the Greek coach.
Latvian mentor Raimonds Vilde, who addressed the journalists in Greek language, commented: “I’m not happy with our performance. We didn’t show our character. Greece was aggressive in the service, causing many mistakes in our reception”.
Nikos Roumeliotis, the Greek captain, said: “We played better than in Latvia. Between Italy and Turkey, if we qualify for the next round, I prefer Turkey”. Latvia’s captain, Armands Celitans, stated: “It was a surprise for us not to play as well as we did in Riga”.
Pool C in Merksem (BEL)
Bosnia & Herzegovina vs. Slovakia 0:3 (19-25, 12-25, 19-25)
Belgium vs. Ukraine 3-1(26-24, 25-20, 23-25, 25-22)
In the first game of the European qualifier being currently played in Merksem/Antwerp (Belgium) the Bosnian players couldn’t surprise a very strong and solid Slovak team that cruised past pretty easily with a 0:3 (19-25, 12-25, 19-25). Martin Sopko and Martin Nemec immediately put some real pressure on the Bosnian defence, but Dejan Pelemis - with his blocks and an ace - could restore some hopes for his team closing the gap first to 7:8 and then up to 11:15. Saving three set points was the only thing that Bosnia could afford before a block of Divis called it over for the 19-25. The attacks of Martin Nemec and a lot of killing blocks contributed to a quick second set (12-25). In the third set it was again Bosnian Dejan Pelemis who took profit of a certain lack of concentration among the Slovaks and of some individual faults. But at 11:11 Nemec – who claimed this year’s GM Capital Challenge Cup with the Italian club based in Perugia – showed off with strong serves and tactical attacks which team was the best on court this afternoon. “Even if we had a player with stomach problems, we could play the way that we had prepared for this game. It was important to win against Bosnia & Herzegovina with a 3:0 in order to win this tournament” was the conclusion of Slovakia’s head coach Emanuele Zanini. His Bosnian colleague, Nikola Matijasevic, agreed. “Slovakia was too strong for us. They have a strong service, a good defence, always a lot of massive blocks, while we couldn’t bring enough variations in our game. Also the reception failed, so the 0:3 is a normal result”.
Already last week in Poprad Ukraine had proved that it could make it difficult for the Belgian team as they won the match there with a 3:1. Even in their home country and supported by a noisy audience in the Lotto Arena in Antwerp, the local guys had a lot of problems with the visitors from Ukraine, but finally they won the match 3:1 (26-24, 25-20, 23-25, 25-22). Especially with ‘star’ Oleksandr Statsenko the Belgians had – again – a lot of difficulties to stop his strong serves and attacks in the first set (4:9 and 16:19 for Ukraine). But then captain Frank Depestele took his responsibilities and with his bombs he destroyed the Ukrainian defence (23-22). The visitors could save one set point, but with the ace of Tuerlinckx they were forced to leave the first set to the guests. This defeat broke a bit the enthusiastic start of the visitors. They continued with a lot of service faults, while Van Walle and Depestele were practically unstoppable (16:10). At 20:13 Babkov blocked so well that Belgian coach Gewehr had to ask a time-out. It was enough for Van Walle to make a splendid end on set two in his home-town. But in set three the players from Ukraine could solve their problems, even though the Belgians came back from 8:12 till 16:13, thanks to the work of Van Walle and Verhanneman and the destroying service work of Frank Depestele. Some individual faults of the home-team and an error of Van de Voorde gave the visitors an unexpected and important win. A lot of turnarounds in a thrilling fourth set, but it was again captain Frank Depestele who took his team under his leading wings and with the help of Van Walle (top scorer for Belgium tonight with 18 points) he gave his team the possibility to stay in contention for a ticket for the 2011 CEV European Championship. “We knew it wouldn’t have been an easy task against the Ukrainians. But we have to win three games to qualify for the European Championship final round” said the Belgian captain. “We gave them a knock down by winning the first set, Van Walle was unbelievable, but our work is not finished”. Statsenko, the best attacker of his team with 27 points, agreed that too many missing points on serve (24 in the whole match) were a big reason for the defeat of his team. *But we can change the situation if we win tomorrow against Slovakia”.
But what I saw after was possibly even better!
