European Volleyball Championship 2021: Slovakia lost to Croatia, can still advance – SME.sk

BRATISLAVA. He led the Slovak volleyball team for four years. He led her to historical success.

At the 2011 European Championships, he achieved fifth place with her, which is still the best place in the era of Slovak independence. The team under his leadership has triumphed twice in the European League.

“I came to Slovakia so that I could start creating a team that can move step by step to the best,” Italian coach Emanuele Zanini told SME in the past.

Later he also led the Volley Team Bratislava.

“I think that Branko Pistovič, Marek Kardoš or Richard Nemec can be good coaches,” said Zanini.

As a coach of Turkey, he faced Slovakia eight years ago at the European Championship. He didn’t succeed then, now he did.

Catastrophic balance on administration

He has been the coach of the Croatian national team since 2019. At the ongoing championship, he led her to two-point victories over Latvia and Estonia.

On Wednesday, his team came across Slovakia, whose coach is Kardoš.

While the Croats had already started advancing before the match, the Slovaks needed to manage it. Ideal for three points.

They came into the match with a clear intention.

“Croatians have a much bigger problem with the sailing service than with the rotating one. They can pass it high and play from full start. That could be water for our mill, “Kardoš advised.

It did not work. The plot on the board tore this idea to france. From the beginning, the Slovaks kicked one mistake after another at the service station. Out of the initial fourteen Croatian points in the first set, six were donated to them by a broken submission.

After three sets, they had sixteen filing errors on their account. In total, this number climbed to 21. This means that almost a whole set was practically donated to an opponent. On the contrary, he dominated the statistics of es, which he controlled 11: 2.

The Slovaks did not even have a defense, only an attack kept them afloat. Overall, however, it was not enough for an important victory.

They didn’t have a day

“We did not have quality service. We did little aces, we spoiled easy submissions. We didn’t close the line, we lacked defense discipline. We just didn’t have our day, “he said for svf.sk Kardos.

The Slovaks started the match in a similar spirit as the previous one against Latvia. In the first set, they bounced their opponent to five points, and although he caught up, in the dramatic ending, they tilted the scales to their side.

In the next two sets, they scored only nineteen points. It was a bit better in the fourth set, but even in it they often caught up with a slight lead of the opponent.

After averting five swordsmen, they worked out a setball. However, Tomáš Kriško only hit the net during the service and the Croats won the set by 31:29 with a string of three points.

“We are disappointed, we did not manage the match. The Croats played without pressure, on the contrary, we didn’t stop him, “said blocker Šimon Krajčovič sadly.

“From the second set, their universal came to a boil. Every time he came for service, we chased the ball around the hall. On the contrary, we could not hit the service. In the fourth set, we sensed a chance, but in the end it was not enough, “said Krajčovič.

The Germans are a few classes higher

The progressive hope of Slovak volleyball players lives on despite three losses.

In the last performance in the D-group, they will meet the favored Germans on Thursday. So far, they have only lost to France and secured the promotion in advance.

“We will see the line-up of the Germans. We have to play much better than today, “says Kardoš.

“The Germans are a few classes somewhere else, we have to play bait. However, we saw what happened at the last European Championships, when they played at the end of the group against the Spaniards, “Krajčovič added for svf.sk.

In the mentioned duel two years ago, the Germans, with the certainty of progress, sent a modified line-up into the game and lost to Spain at a more casual pace. It was the Slovaks who paid for it, who after this result fell to the non-progressive place.