Club World Cup, Trento loses but goes to semifinals
Club World Cup, Trent loses but goes to semifinals
Trentino Itas sends the first phase of the 2024 Club World Cup in Brazil into the archives with an irrelevant defeat against South American champions Sada Cruzeiro. In the Italian night the Gialloblù lineup, in a decidedly experimental version, in fact completed its journey in Pool B, yielding only at the tie break at the Sabiazinho Arena against the best lineup of the continent.
Already certain since twenty-four hours of the qualification to the rainbow semifinals on Saturday as the first classified in their grouping, the European Champions showed up to the appointment with an unprecedented lineup, which allowed players such as Sbertoli, Michieletto and Lavia to catch their breath in view of the final rush of the event. All this without absolutely losing their fighting and determined spirit, peculiarities that allowed Soli’s team to go ahead 1-0 and then even 2-1, before suffering the comeback of the Brazilians who necessarily had to win to continue hoping for qualification to the Final Four. Hence, holding up very well on the court in this case were the various Acquarone (brilliant night as director), Magalini (19 points with 65% in attack and two walls), Bristot (10 with two ace), but also the two opposing players Rychlicki (18 winning balls with 58% and four blocks in the two and a half sets played) and Gabi Garcia (10 with 71%) whom the Trentino coach alternated on the court over the course of the five sets. With their backs against the wall, Sada found more continuity in their action starting from the fourth fraction, but still had to sweat until the last and take advantage of all the support of their noisy audience to succeed in turning the situation around.
Match report. Trentino Itas took the court with an absolutely new starting six for the current season; in view of Saturday night’s semifinal, coach Fabio Soli applied a wide turnover, lining up Acquarone at the helm, Rychlicki opposite, Bristot and Magalini as slappers, Flavio and Pellacani in the middle and Laurenzano as libero. Sada Cruzeiro responds with Matheus at setter, Wallace opposite, Vaccari and Rodriguinho in place 4, Otavio and Saatkamp center, and Alexandre libero. From the starting blocks the Gialloblù come out better (3-1 and 5-3), thanks to a counterattack by Magalini; an ace by Bristot widens the gap (7-4), then a wall by Rychlicki on Vaccari and an error at the net by Wallace offer +5 (11-6), forcing the Brazilians to take refuge in a time out. At the resumption it is necessary to wait until 14-11 (ace by the same local opposite) to see a minimal però reaction from Sada; Trentino Itas is not intimidated. Bristot and Magalini ensure ball changes in attack and Rychlicki signs another wall for 18-13. Sada tries again to go up the slope (19-16), but later Soli’s team does not concede anymore (22-17) and closes the first set already on 25-19, without having to suffer anymore, dragged by Rychlicki.
After the change of court, the South Americans try to fight back, relying heavily on the service and the arm of the’eternal Wallace, who produces the first break in attack (2-5). The gialloblù immediately retake the opponents with a net error by Vaccari and a counterattack(!) by Acquarone (5-5). The balance lasts until 10-10, then Rychlicki walls Rodriguinho and offers the Italian lead (12-10); Sada retaliates with the wall (13-13) and then puts the arrow with Otavio’s services, which force Soli to interrupt the game (15-17). Trento staggers (16-19), but stays on its feet (18-20), capitalizing on a few blunders by the biancazzurri. The end of the partial è then sprinted (21-22) and was in fact decided by Rodriguinho’s services (21-25, with also a direct ace).
The third set restarts on the point-to-point contention (4-4 and 8-8), without the two teams conceding to the’other more than a point advantage, although alternating in the lead of the score. It is then Magalini (pipe and subsequent wall on Wallace) who ensures the first +2 of the fraction (13-11), but soon after the margin doubles (15-11) thanks to a Sada net error with Vaccari and an ace by Bristot. On the court now there’è also Gabi Garcia in a reasoned turnover with Rychlicki and just one of his attacks after a spectacular defense by Laurenzano pushes his team to +6 (20-14); Sada Cruzeiro doesn’t believe in it anymore and Trento travels fast to 2-1 (23-17), which arrives on 25-18 with a winning counterattack by Pellacani.
In the fourth set Fabio Soli keeps both Gabi Garcia and Bartha, who took over at the end of the previous set from Flavio, on the court. It is precisely a first time out by the Romanian that gives the first lead to the Brazilians (3-4), who try to take advantage of the now favorable emotional wave to run away on 8-4. Trento struggles to get through on offense and takes refuge in a time out, on the resumption it gets close again up to minus two (6-8, Pellacani’s wall on Wallace), but then swerves again, held back on the wall by Sada Cruzeiro (7-11). The time out partly clears the minds of the Gialloblù, who take advantage of a Vaccari error to bring themselves back in the slipstream (12-14), before suffering Otavio’s ace and two counterattacks by the same South American place 4 (12-18). The tie break è in the’air (15-22) and comes quickly, already on 25-16, with the gialloblù who can’t raise their heads again.
The fifth set opens in the sign of Saatkamp (an attack and two aces for the Brazilian 0-3); è already an important tear, becauseé then Trento tries laboriously to recover the disadvantage (3-4), but is pierced by Wallace’s attacks (4-8). After the change of court, forò, the gialloblù reared their heads again with Acquarone (two consecutive walls on Vaccari for 7-8); Sada Cruzeiro sniffed the danger and from there on did not concede anything more (10-12), closing the contest on 12-15 with the 27° personal point in the match of Wallace.
“We did not win the match, as we had asked ourselves on the eve of the match in the locker room, but we came close and we should be proud of what we did by fielding a very experimental lineup – commented Trentino Itas coach Fabio Soli at the end of the match – . In fact, the responses of those who played were really positive; we managed to express for long stretches a beautiful volleyball, doing more than what was logically expected. Still, I think it was a good night and I say that becauseé è it was good to see the right attitude even of those whoè were on the bench; so kudos to everyone and now we can focus on Saturday night” semifinal.
On the night between Friday and Saturday, Trentino Itas will know the name of the opponent to challenge in the semifinals: it will face the winner of the match between Civitanova and Al Ahly, which concludes the first phase. Barring schedule changes, the match will be played on Dec. 14 at 9 p.m. Italian time, with live coverage on DAZN and VBTV.
Below is the scorecard of the Pool B third round match of the first phase of the 2024 Club World Cup, played at the Sabiazinho Arena in Uberlandia.
Sada Cruzeiro-Trentino Itas 3-2
(19-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-16, 15-12)
SADA CRUZEIRO: Saatkamp 6, Matheus 1, Rodriguinho 11, Otavio 9, Wallace, Vaccari 15, Alexandre (L), Oppenkoski. N.e. Felipe, Velasco, Batista, Rodrigo, Douglas, Martos. All. Filipe Ferraz.
TRENTINO ITAS: Flavio 2, Acquarone 3, Magalini 19, Pellacani 6, Rychlicki 18, Bristot 10, Laurenzano (L); Bartha 1, Gabi Garcia 10, Sbertoli, Pesaresi (L), Michieletto. N.e. Lavia. All. Fabio Soli.
REBITTERS: Vera Mechan (Perù) and Cespedes Lassi (Dominican Republic).
SET DURATION: 25’, 28’, 26’, 26’, 17’ tot. 2h and 2’.
NOTES: 3,674 spectators. Sada Cruzeiro: 7 walls, 8 aces, 22 hitting errors, 7 action errors, 47% offense, 48% (17%) reception. Trentino Itas: 10 walls, 2 aces, 23 hitting errors, 7 action errors, 58% in attack, 47% (19%) in reception.
