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Italy has another difficult game ahead of them

The Italians are, so far, not justifying the expectations that are set before them. They played poorly in all three games, and Denmark and Belarus failed to utilize that. Belgium has shown that it is possible to play against the Azzuri, Netherlands is playing better and better after the initial defeat

With the end of the group stage of the competition, the knock-out stage is starting. The group winners have earned their direct placement in the quarterfinals, while the teams on the second and third position in the group will have to go through playoffs to earn their position in the quarterfinals. Groups A and C will be playing their playoff games in Aarhus. Italy and Netherlands are playing the first game of the day. Italy finished in the second position in group A after they lost against the group winner, Belgium, on Sunday. The Dutch took second place with a win over Slovenia, but they finished third in the group after Serbia's subsequent victory.

Italy was, in their match against Belgium, deciding the group winner and direct placement in the quarterfinals. The Italians haven't played well in the first two games. They won easily against Denmark, but the difference in the quality between them and the Danes is huge. The Belarusians have given them some problems in the second game, and against Belgium on Sunday it was clear that Italy is not in the right form and that they have to fix their game ahead of the match against the Netherlands, if they want to reach the quarterfinals. They lost the game with 2-3 (23-25, 19-25, 25-18, 27-25, 9-15). 

- We started well and then inexplicably lost the set. We made a big comeback, but in the end we didn't manage to win. I did my best to help the team, but in the end we were disappointed with the loss - Vettori was depressed after the game. 

Berruto has, for the second game in the row, rested Savani on the Stands with Lanzo. Travica was the setter, Birarelli got a place on the block with Piano, Kovar and Parodi were the receivers, Zaytsev was the opposite and Rossini was libero. 

They opened the game well, with a 8-6 lead and 16-10 on the second technical time-out. Their advantage grew to big eight points difference (20-12), but the momentum completely shifted after 21-15 and they started to lose their advantage. The Belgians evened the score at 23-23, Van de Voorde got the first set point for the Belgium, and Italy lost an already won set with Birarelli's mistake.  

There was a big fight in the second set, but Italy has always been two points behind. At the 18-20 score, Belgium made the key 5-1 series and put Italy in a difficult situation. 

Berruto tried to wake up his team with a couple of changes, instead of indisposed Kovar and Piano, he sent young opposite Vettorio and middle blocker Berreta on the court. Zaytsev was moved to the receiver position, and Vettori played in his position as opposite. The changes were effective and Italy dominated the whole set, gradually increasing their advantage until the final 25-18. 

Not much has changed in the fourth set, it was still a tight match. Italy had a 16-15 lead by the second technical time-out, but Belgium turned the score and had a 22-20 lead. The Italians didn't give up and they earned the fifth set. Unfortunately for them, they didn't play well in it and Belgium, deservedly, won the first place. 

- We lost to a better team. The end of the first set was the key to the match because we dropped a great lead. This doesn't change our goals, just makes our way towards the medal a bit longer. We didn't pay dearly for this mistake, but we will for every subsequent one. We have to play better because there is no makeup exam after the next game - coach Mauro Berruto said.

Zaytsev was, once again, the best scorer with 22 points, and Vettori added 20 points with a 57% of efficiency from the bench. Parodi scored 13, and Birarelli was very good with 12 points, five of which he won with the block. At the end, they finished the game with five errors more (29-24) and two less blocks (12-14). They made 18 mistakes from the service line. 

Against Slovenia, Netherlands wanted a win which would secure them one of two positions which lead to the quarterfinals. They could qualify even with a loss, but then they would depend on Serbia's later game. They managed to win the match and three points even though they lost the first set (19-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-23). 

Coach Edwin Benne sent the same line-up on the court for the third time. Abdel-Aziz played the setter, Kooistra and Koelewijn were middle blockers, Maan and Rauwerdink were receivers, Klapwijk opposite and Jorna libero. 

The first set wasn't good for the Netherlands, they were losing from the start and their defensive play was bad. Slovenia had too big advantage on the second technical time-out (10-16) and the Netherlands easily lost the set. Overbeeke started the second set instead of Klapwijk. They opened the set with a small backlog, but they woke up before the first technical time-out and had two point advantage. Their offense was getting better and they evened the score to 1-1 in sets without too much drama. 

Third set started with a lot of mistakes on both sides, and the score was 16-16 by the technical time-out. After that, the Dutch made a key 5-0 series and won the third set. 

Fourth set didn't start well for the Netherlands, they were losing 5-8 and 7-12. That's when coach Benne substituted Abdel-Aziz with Freiriksa who turned the course of events. The Dutch evened the score the first time in 20-20, and after three more ties, they put together two points and finally won. 

- We haven't played our best volleyball, but we fought until the very end. Substitutions brought new energy to the team and we are all happy that we won. We haven't had a great start of the tournament, but we're playing better and a lot of things will depend on the psychological preparation - blocker Kooistra said. 

Substitution Overbeeke played an excellent match and scored 20 points with 21% efficiency. Maan was also good on offense with 14 points, and Koelwijn also had a double digit score with 10 points. 

- I have to admit that nervousness is the main reason we lost the first set. We were unlucky on few occasions, and we served badly. Overbeeke has brought new energy to the team and he was instrumental in our victory. Freirik also came in and changed the course of events in the last set. He is a reliable setter which he proved on several occasions - coach Benne said. He also added: 

- The tournament is now open, and we haven't finished with this win. 

Last time they played against each other was in 2009. Netherlands celebrated with a 3-1 win on the European Championship, and earlier that year Italy won two World league matches with 3-0, even though all games were even. 

It is clear that it is not easy to win in this tournament, only seven games were decided in three sets, so another interesting and tight game is to be expected. 

 

If you have seen Italian matches since the end of the preparation matches all the way to the last match where the winner of the group was decided against Belgium, you would easily conclude that they are not the team that could contend for the top. Although the team has potential, they are not showing any so far. An underestimated match against Danmark, a lost set against the weak Belarus and then a loss against Belgium have definitely disrupted their confidence. Zaytsev is the only player to play all matches at top level while his biggest support was Parodi who got slightly injured in the last match but so far there are no announcements saying he will not play. Eight players are debutants on European Championship and it can be seen in their performance. The Dutch, however, play better and better as the tournament goes on. After a loss against Finland, they had the reigning European champions in their grasp but didn't know how to finish the job. In the last match they won against a quite strong team of Slovenia and now full of confidence they face the stricken Italians. In the preparation matches they have already shown they can fight the strongest teams and they won three times against the French who dominated the B group in Gdansk. They have a very strong team who already showed they can defeat Italians. Klapwijk, Rauwerdink and Ter Horst are playing in Italy for years and they know their team very well. The selector Benne openly stated they see themselves reaching far in this tournament so underestimating Netherlands this much is really ridiculous. The 177.5 limit is too low for such a tied match. Four sets are enough to go through and it is worth trying for a medium stake.