In Pasay City the decisive Pool 6. The Azzurri are seventh in the standings for now, the top 8 go to Gdansk. Tomorrow the match against Brazil. De Giorgi: "We need determination immediately"
Back on track. Italvolley takes the field again, this time in the Philippines for the Nations League Pool 6. Tomorrow the Azzurri will face Brazil in Pasay City (9 am in Italy, TV on Sky) in the opening match of the third and decisive week of Vnl. At the moment the world champions are seventh in the general classification led by Japan. With 5 victories and 15 points already in the bag, the Azzurri will face Brazil, Canada, Slovenia and Japan in order. The goal is to collect the points needed to remain among the top eight and thus detach the ticket for Gdansk where, from 19 to 23 July, the final of 8 for the intercontinental trophy will be played.
For this last preliminary round, coach De Giorgi confirms his recent choices, however also adding Sala and Piccinelli, making his seasonal debut in the Nations League, the former even making his absolute international debut. This season, the athletes to wear the blue of the seniors for the first time in an official competition rise to six: Sanguinetti, Rinaldi and Porro (week 1), Caneschi, Magalini (week 2), Sala (week 3). This is the philosophy of De Giorgi's "extended group" in a season full of appointments and which is only just beginning. «We have confirmed a large part of the group from week 2 - explains the Italy coach - to give continuity to the game. Other guys have joined, as already mentioned we are trying to give opportunities to all 30 on the list. This tournament, in addition to being of a high level, is very long and allows us to place interesting kids in a group like we did with athletes who can certainly represent an important future».
The goal is to achieve qualification, consolidating a ranking that is yet to be defined: «We'll take the field trying to think one match at a time, without counting and trying to stay concentrated - continues De Giorgi -. Every match has its own reason, both from a technical and ranking point of view. We will have to improve our mechanisms, quality, determination to close some points, and we will have to do all of this from the first game».
The debut, moreover, is not the easiest. Brazil is third in the standings with 6 wins and 19 points. In the 93 direct matches between the two teams, Italy have won 36 times against 57 for the South Americans. De Giorgi in this trip to the Philippines will not be able to count on the libero Fabio Balaso who, for personal reasons, is returning to Italy. Leonardo Scanferla is taking his place.
These are the 14 Azzurri in the Philippines: Giovanni Sanguinetti, Leonardo Scanferla, Yuri Romanò, Simone Giannelli, Leandro Mosca, Tommaso Rinaldi, Gianluca Galassi, Daniele Lavia, Mattia Bottolo, Riccardo Sbertoli, Alessandro Michieletto, Roberto Russo, Lorenzo Sala, Alessandro Piccinelli.
Meanwhile, the World Volleyball Federation has announced that the matches played in week 3 by Iran and all its opponents will not be considered for the purpose of updating the world rankings. It is the consequence of the unavailability of some players of the Iranian team to take part in pool 5 which is played in Anaheim, due to the failure to grant a visa to enter the United States.
