12/10/2015 21:31
After setback with France Azzurri re-start EuroVolley campaign with match up against Suomis
2015 CEV Volleyball European Championship - Men
Busto Arsizio, Italy, October 12, 2015. Team Italy suffered a major setback on Sunday as they lost their last match in Pool B of the 2015 men’s EuroVolley to France before a sell-out crowd of 8,200 at the iconic Palavela in Turin. After moving to Busto Arsizio, the home heroes will resume their campaign already on Tuesday with a playoff match against Finland which is somehow a remake of the game that these teams contested two years ago in Aarhus, though at that time a spot in the semis was at stake.
“We still feel some disappointment following our loss to France on Sunday. We had started the match in the best way leading by two sets to none, however they slowly but surely stepped up their efforts, showed some great actions especially in defence and served very well, so this way they came back strong and ended up winning the tie-break. I am nevertheless confident that my guys will immediately get back on track and that our next match will provide us with the positive feedback we need and expect. Finland is a good team, experienced and their chemistry is good as well, so in order to beat them we have to perform well,” says Italy’s mentor Gian Lorenzo Blengini.
“We knew that this championship would have been a challenging tournament, like the World Cup in Japan was,” he continues. “I think that my players have to recover well following the three matches we played in Turin but everything looks fine, we have arrived in Busto Arsizio with the right approach and everyone is really looking forward to the match with Finland. It is important to see their reaction after yesterday’s loss to France. We can’t underestimate our opponent since Finland is a very solid team, they make very few mistakes and they have always performed well at the European Championship. It’s not going to be easy, we have to play a good game and remain focussed from start to end.”
For more information on the 2015 CEV Volleyball European Championship - Men visit eurovolley2015.net or click here. In social media, please use the competition’s official hashtag #EuroVolleyM.
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