Sevens, goleada with Georgia and quarters closer

Italy-Georgia 18-8

The Settebello rules with authority the bogeyman represented by the former Soviets chock-full of naturalized nationals. Alesiani’s four and good attack plots still positive with the extra man with a comforting eight out of nine attempts. Excellent approach with 7-1 as early as midway through the second half and nine movement players in goal. Georgia, tenth last World Cup in Budapest, added to Croatian historian Marco Jelaca and “our” Fabio Baraldi also former Ortigia left-hander and now at AN Brescia Boris Vapenski and former Telimar Palermo Jovan Saric, but never looked like a team. Now everything will be played next Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. against Montenegro, paired in the standings with the Azzurri having beaten Georgia 18-10. Whoever wins takes the round and a turn of rest returning to the pool on September 6 for the quarterfinals. In the event of a tie the Azzurri are well ahead in goal difference with +22 versus +11 for the Balkans.

“We had a better approach in attack than in the match with Slovakia. The guys were having fun, the pressing was effective, and everything worked well until the middle of the match. Then we switched to a zone and took a lot of expulsions against, disjointing us a bit. We should make evaluations as to why it didn’t work, however, I keep the good performance against a team that has values. Now Montenegro to go directly to the quarterfinals. They just a good team, I like their style of play, their aggressiveness, but we have to make our own path whatever the outcome of next Friday’s game,” optimistic Italian head coach Sandro Campagna concludes.