Tirana, Albania, June 23, 2017. The Men`s European League returned for the final week of the League Round with Pool A requiring one more weekend to determine who would compete in the Final Four to be held on July 1-2 in Gentofte (DEN) alongside the home team and Pool B winners Ukraine. Day 1 was completed with just 180 minutes of action with the Former Y.R. of Macedonia and Albania both claiming 3-0 victories.
Sweden vs Former Y.R. of Macedonia
The Former Y.R. of Macedonia reached a deserved victory against Sweden, winning 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 32-30) in style. The first two sets were dominated by the Macedonian players showing superiority across the court. However the third set contained a much closer contest serving up lots more emotions for the attending public and the rivalry was high throughout. Sweden tried to open the game, benefitting from some underestimation of the Macedonian players. The third set was a marathon, but in the end the 2016 European League silver medallists reached their goal of a fourth consecutive victory. Nikola Gjorgiev was the top scorer of the Macedonian team with 26 points, who continue to lead the pool with two matches left.
Dragutin Baltic, coach of the Former Y.R. of Macedonia: “We suffered in the third set, but in general we deserved the victory. The team showed a good level, but in the future we should not repeat the errors of the third set again. I’m happy with the victory as it was important to start well this weekend.”
Johan Isacsson, coach of Sweden: “We did not start this game well, making some errors in the first set. We tried to play better and we could have won the third set. We tried right to the end to reach our goal.”
Albania vs Azerbaijan
The Albanian men’s Volleyball team is trying to make history and reach the European League final phase for the first time. Their victory today against Azerbaijan, 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-19), is a big step towards reaching this goal. The first set was dominated by the home team, cheered on by the support of their fans. The Azerbaijan team reacted well in the second set, but after the second technical time out the score was overturned, with the Albanian players winning by four points. This motivated the home players even further, who played well in the third set and achieved a great victory, with Anton Qafarena (21 points) and Gazmend Husaj (17) making the difference.
Jovan Melka, coach of Albania: “I want to congratulate my team, because today we played really well although in some moments we suffered. But overall the score was very important for us, to make a great step towards the final phase. We need to stay calm and concentrated, playing well all the games.”
Farid Jalalov, coach of Azerbaijan: “Congratulations to the Albanian team for their victory. We had some good moments in this game, especially in the second and third set, but we did not use them to win. Making some errors in the first set did not help us in this game, but we hope to reach our first victory in the next games this weekend.”
Click here for more info including detailed stats of the matches