Italy beats Argentina and goes to the semifinals – Corriere.it

Start as best you could not the final eight of the Nations League of Fef De Giorgi’s men’s national volleyball team. In Gdansk, the Azzurri overwhelmed 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-14) Argentina in the quarterfinals who had denied us the Olympic semifinal in Tokyo and had surpassed us at the beginning of June in the opening match of the Azzurri’s tournament.

Even without the center Simone Anzani – remained in Rome for a series of cardiac tests which, however, ruled out problems: he will return to the group to prepare for the European Championship – the Azzurri play a top-level game, without ever allowing the South Americans to enter the match. An always incisive service, an impeccable wall-defense correlation and the usual continuity in attack break the Argentine balance and force the phenomenal setter De Cecco (protagonist in our championship in Civitanova) always playing with the ball off the net.

The Azzurri then hit the pass for the semifinal: he’ll be back on the pitch on Saturday at 5 pm against the United States of former Italians Christenson, Anderson, Jaeschke, Holt and Shoji who beat Andrea Giani’s France 3-2 in the other quarter-final. Tomorrow the other two quarter-final matches: Japan-Slovenia at 5pm and Poland-Brazil at 8pm (both live on Sky Sport).

The match

De Giorgi lines up the Azzurri with Giannelli as dribbler, Roman as opposite, Michieletto and Lavia as spikers, Galassi and Russo as central players and Balaso as libero. Italy starts strong, puts pressure on the serve and controls the game. The ball exchange was fluid with Lavia and Roman passing regularly, despite Giannelli almost never calling his central defenders into question in attack. The Azzurri take off and check. And they bring home the first set without too many problems. Italy in control, plays excellent volleyball and doesn’t lower the engine speed.

Giannelli distributes the game in a more balanced way, Michieletto doesn’t miss a beat and Italy is also growing when blocking. The Italian domination affects the attack choices of the South Americans who become even more legible, lose certainties and are unable to find rhythm even in reception. And the script is repeated in the third set as well, a sort of target practice by Roman and his companions who sink the shot and gain access to the semifinal.