Italvolley, Ferdinando De Giorgi challenges Poland for World Cup finals
Eve of Italy-Poland, semifinal of the World Championships, a match between the top two teams in the world that is becoming a “classic” of modern volleyball. The match will be broadcast live on Rai 2, DAZN, RaiPlay.it, RaiNews.it and VBTV.
As is well known for the Italian national team, this is the seventh time among the top four formations in the world, an unexpected result that gives continuity to the glorious history of Italian volleyball. The history of the Men’s National Team also includes, of course, the Italian CT Ferdinando De Giorgi who, after the four rainbow titles won (3 as a player, 1 as a coach) is about to experience his second consecutive semifinal as technical commissioner in a rainbow event: “In general, it’s not that there are great innovations or inventions. The teams have their own well-defined game and, as we have seen in the last few games, it depends a lot on how you do things. Big surprises there won’t be any, but it all depends on the quality of the game and how you deal with different situations. I don’t think there will be incredible surprises.”
The CT goes on to talk about his boys, “We are a team that knows how to be competitive, that puts its best into it by always giving its all on the field with important characters inside. There are characters that can be seen and those that cannot be seen, but they are there; they are all guys with an’excellent predisposition for both the competitive aspect and the sharing of difficulties and moments. The team feeling there is in trying to find the balances and integrate is remarkable, when I say this team is special I am referring to that. They have a special ability to integrate, include and help their teammates. So many situations show how this is one of the group’s special qualities. Those who arrive are immediately put in a position to feel part of a project that has been going on for a few years.”
After talking about his boys, the CT turns his gaze to the opponents: “Poland is a team with good hitters, almost all of them. These are matches where you can start with an idea, but then you have to see the effectiveness of the tactic and you have to be very quick to change it if necessary. It’s not just that: they will have a strategy as well, but we want to be as balanced as possible, so if they block something for us, we won’t stop playing. It’s not a game of perfection, especially with strong opponents, but of being able to be in the game all the time, pulling the deck to one side and the other. There will almost certainly be times when Poland will put us in trouble, as we will do with them, so the ability to adapt to different situations becomes crucial. This is not a team against which to use only power, but it is one against which you have to be “smart.” In general, however, we are playing with the right awareness, we know what we are, we are very focused on us, on feeling our feelings. This is not the time to think too much, but to feel what we are, think about how to activate our qualities, and only then we will focus on the opponent. It is clear that you have to first activate all your qualities and with those face them to the fullest.”
A passage on the recent VNL final, which we lost precisely against Poland: “We also grew because of that experience. We took a lot of cues to create the necessary antibodies for this World Cup: reactions, involvement and aspects to improve. We have grown all along the way.”
The technical commissioner concludes, “As I said, these are challenges that have to be tackled comprehensively: batting is the start of the game and can affect a lot, but we have to maintain reception and play the ball high with an organized wall. As I already said be smart and cover long actions, because now all teams defend very well.”
