17/07/2015 18:21
Slovenia and Croatia go for much anticipated European League ‘derby’
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Maribor, Slovenia, July 17, 2015. The rivalry between neighbours has always been special in all sports and this applies also to Slovenia and Croatia, two young countries, who are now playing in the same Pool of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League, fighting for their qualification to the Final Four tournament scheduled for August 13-14 in Walbrzych, Poland.
So far Slovenia has claimed seven of the nine matches that these countries have disputed since their independence in 1991, the last one dating back to the 2013 edition of the CEV Volleyball European League. However, Croatia has showed in many occasions that they have a strong team, which includes a few world-class players. Therefore, it was not a major surprise when the Croatians qualified for the Final Round of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European Championship already last year topping the charts of a 2nd Round qualifier including also the national teams of The Netherlands, Romania and Montenegro.
However, the start of the 2015 European League was more successful for Slovenia, since Croatia claimed their first match against Belarus on Saturday, but lost the second one Sunday. At the same time the Slovenians were off to a flying start by winning both matches they played with Turkey last week in Samsun.
“I am happy with six important points and quite a good performance, but there were still too many moments in the game where my players lost concentration, especially towards the end of the first and fourth sets of the second match. We have worked a lot this week in order to further develop and improve our playing system,” says Slovenia’s mentor Andrea Giani.
The legendary former international star player didn’t say much about the opponents, as he is, as usual, more focussed on his team: “There are another two important matches in front of us and our goal is to win another six points. We know Igor Omrcen won’t play for Croatia this time around, but Croatia have already showed that they have a good team even without him. Of course we analysed their game and have prepared tactical solutions, but I am always putting more focus on my team, on my players and on our playing system,” Giani adds.
There won’t be any changes in the roster of Slovenia since last week and therefore libero Jani Kovacic, who impressed the audience in Samsun with a remarkable save in the first match against Turkey, will get another opportunity to play on Saturday and Sunday. “We already know that the Croatians will play with the same twelve players they used last week in Rovinj. I already played against some of them and I know others only by their name. We are very well aware of their quality as a team, as well of some of their individuals. We trained hard, worked a lot to eliminate some mistakes, as individual players as well as a team. We have to stay focussed and give our best this weekend,” Kovacic says.
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