09/05/2014 15:00
Portugal’s middle-blocker Marcel Gil has his sight set on ticket to Final Round
2015 CEV Volleyball European Championship - Men
Porto, Portugal, May 9, 2014. Portugal’s national team player Marcel Gil is currently attending a training camp to get ready for the second round of qualifications for the 2015 CEV Volleyball European Championship – Men coming up later this month. Gil – who yesterday turned 24 – analyses the perspectives of his side that is set to play Finland, Austria and one team qualified through the first qualification round taking place this weekend.
“We haven’t been assigned to the strongest Pool, but it is nevertheless very tough,” the middle-blocker says. “Finland is a team that we know very well. They are in excellent shape and will play at the World Championship in Poland later this year, so they definitely are entering this competition with high expectations. Austria is another team that we are familiar with and we know their strength. We still do not know our third opponent which on paper should be the weakest one but they will come to Portugal after playing the first round, so they will found their rhythm of the game by then. This makes it even more important that we fully exploit the three friendly matches we will be playing these days with Spain.”
The first of two round robin tournaments will take place from May 16 to 18 at the local sports hall in Vila do Conde before teams continue their quest for a ticket to the Final Round of the European Championship on May 23-25 in Vantaa, Finland.
The 206 cm tall middle-blocker has set very high goals for this European campaign: “We expect to top the charts at the end of these tournaments and to make the Final Round. Since we are playing the first tournament at home we need to exploit this advantage, win all matches so as to get the right edge before the second round robin in Finland. The opening match with Austria will be very important because it will show where we stand and test our willingness to delight our fans. We have played Austria a few times already but they also have added some young players to their roster. We need to take advantage of their weaknesses,” Gil concludes.
Click here for more information on the second qualification round of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European Championship – Men, including a detailed match programme
For thise who understand Portuguese here is a link to an interview with Marcel Gil
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