Konya, Turkey, July 10, 2017. Tuesday’s gold medal match will be between Belgium and Italy after both countries won their semi-finals during an action-packed day at the 2017 CEV U17 Volleyball European Championship – Men at Konya Municipality Sports and Congress Center.
Semi-finals
Bulgaria vs. Belgium 0-3 (22-25, 21-25, 18-25)
Belgium were the first team to book their place in Tuesday’s gold medal match after beating Pool I winners Bulgaria in straight sets. There were huge celebrations at the end for Belgium coach Wim De Boeck’s side as they bounced back from defeat in their final pool match to win without too many problems. Speaking afterwards, De Boeck was quick to praise the work of his backroom staff.
“I’m very satisfied but our scout did well and Bulgaria could not play their attacking game,” he explained. “The team did what I asked and now we have a great chance. The gameplan was perfect and the players executed it. There are moments these players open up as you can see when they celebrate but there are moments when they focus and that’s important.”
Italy vs. Turkey 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-21)
In the final match of the day Italy beat hosts Turkey in front of the biggest crowd of the tournament so far to put them within three sets of gold. Despite a loud, passionate partisan crowd against them, Italy stood tall and got the job done in the second semi-final and a serve into the net from Turkey gifted them victory. “Before the tournament there was no way I thought we could win as we had so little time to prepare,” said Italy coach Bruno Morganti.
“My team had a lot of ability but we were handicapped slightly because we didn’t have the time to prepare. It was ready set go but I knew we had the potential to progress as the tournament went on and I’m delighted we’re in the final. Belgium have an excellent setter and they move the ball very quickly. It will be important for us to serve well and try and keep the setter as far away from the net as possible. We will try to stop them moving the ball quickly. Our celebrations are done for tonight but we’re already thinking about tomorrow’s final. The lads are calm. The final is essential and they know that the match is going to be decisive.”
Classification matches 5-8
Serbia vs. Russia 0-3 (14-25, 21-25, 10-25)
Russia moved to within a win of securing fifth place at the competition with an easy victory against a depleted Serbia team. Hit by a bug and sickness, Serbia had to rotate their team and they were taken apart from a physically strong Russian frontline. The second set was closer than the first, but Konstantin Brianskii’s side regained control in the third to complete the victory.
The Russia coach accepted that Serbia played with an alternate line-up and concluded: “When we play our best, we are the better team out of us and Serbia.”
Ognjen Bulic lamented the fact his squad was smaller due to illness, but put faith in those in reserve to do a job for him on court. “Five of my players have flu and we had to leave two in the hotel,” he explained. “One now has to go to hospital, so I told the ones who came in to play with courage, but it did not happen for us.”
Greece vs. Belarus 0-3 (20-25, 12-25, 17-25)
Belarus won in convincing fashion against Greece to set up an intriguing tie against Russia in the battle for fifth place.
Greece coach Stefanos Nanas said: “All the teams have problems with illness and we are no different with gastroenteritis. We tried to hide our problems, but it’s obvious due to who’s on the court. For us it was a bad day but tomorrow we have a game with Serbia and hopefully we will have strength to go on and win the game.”
The results mean that the order of play for Tuesday is as follows:
7th/8th play-off
12:00 Serbia vs. Greece
5th/6th play-off
14:30 Russia vs. Belarus
Bronze medal match
17:00 Bulgaria vs. Turkey
Gold medal match
19:30 Belgium vs. Italy