VNL Finals, Fefè De Giorgi charges Italvolley.
De Giorgi’s words
Italy held its first training session on Polish soil this morning at the Atlas Arena in Lodz ahead of the Volleyball Nations League Quarterfinals scheduled for Friday at 5 p.m. against France. Fresh from week 3 of the VNL, the group, consisting of 14 of the 16 present in Ljubljana, è arrived late yesterday afternoon in Warsaw on a direct flight from Ljubljana before moving on to Lodz, the Finals venue. Italy, which finished the Preliminary Phase in third place with 9 wins and 27 points, will meet for the second time in the VNL Andrea Giani’s France, a team they have met 150 times and beaten 79.
De Giorgi’s choices for the Finals fell on the group present in Ljubljana, doing without Falaschi and Cortesia. 24 the athletes involved in this Volleyball Nations League of the 30 in the initial list, all however involved in the long work carried out in Cavalese, with the concept of one big blue group at the base of the project of Technical Commissioner Fefè De Giorgi who wanted soì to present the Finals in Lodz.
"We arrive in Poland with the group that played in the third week in Ljubljana and we arrive there with the pleasure of playing, of being part of this final of VNL, of being able to play a Quarterfinal that will be certainly very challenging but with the taste, really the satisfaction of giving our best. I think the group that played in Ljubljana, canò have definitely learned something compared to even matches with teams that are a little bit more challenging and we will treasure what we did there so that we can express and play all our possibilities. È a dry game, so I think it è important to approach it with the right mindset; and then clearly put the technique within this game as well. Ours is not è an experiment in the sense that what we are doing is part of a project that in any case è started in 2021, which was part of a path that certainly looks for results but also looks very much for growth, looks very much for opportunities; for the guys who are there and who are part of this enlarged group and so this final played with this team is precisely part of a project that è was possible to carry on because è at the beginning of this VNL I had to ask many players, who were states committed already; from last year's blue season made up of five months of activity, plus the whole league, plus the cups, an effort to achieve qualification and I think in the end then the usefulness for us is; that precisely to give now a pò rest to these players who have not stopped for a year, give them a good physical preparation and at the same time continue our planning with athletes among whom someone will be part of the Olympic team. Playing real matches, challenging matches, even if you are 20 years old, è something that becomes for us and for me an investment in what we will then go on to do at the Olympics. In these Finals the favorites more or less are always the same. Definitely Poland, which has the possibility, with the roster it has, especially in these long events, to manage so many players without losing quality. Forò I think there are many teams that can aim high. The Quarters are always the tough passage for everyone, if you pass the Quarters then you play for the medals and so I think they will be challenging games for everyone".
