Translated material
Winter option
The final tournament of the World League starts in Argentina
Six men's national teams will compete for the title of World League champion over five days in the Argentine city of Cordoba. The final tournament of the largest commercial volleyball competition starts today with the participation of teams from Russia, Brazil, Italy, Cuba, Serbia and the home team.The World League is being held for the 21st time, and our team won it only once, in 2002, when the post of head coach was held by the coach of Belgorod Lokomotiv-Belogorye Gennady Shipulin. From that squad, the current “steering” of the national team, Italian Daniele Bagnoli, brought in additional players Taras Khtey and Pavel Abramov, but the latter will not be able to play in Argentina due to a knee injury. Khtey was practically an irreplaceable member of the starting six at the preliminary stage.
Our team is the World League record holder for the sum of second and third places (4+7). This statistics, coupled with the only title, accurately reflects the general nature of the performances of Russian volleyball players in this tournament - always stable and without outright failures, but with big problems during decisive matches, that is, in the semi-finals and in matches directly for the title. But we have the disappointing title of unofficial champions in bronze medal matches.
Argentina is hosting the final tournament for the second time. In 1999, in Mar del Plata, there was just that rare case when Russia finished fourth. The hosts finished sixth. Now in the group stage, Javier Weber's team, which was not dominated by the result, has set a World League anti-record for the hosts of the decisive stage - not a single victory. There are many volleyball players in this team that are well known to Russian fans. Blocker Alejandro Spajic spent two seasons (2004-2006) in the Belgorod club and is now returning there after a four-year break. Luciano De Cecco was the main setter for the Kaliningrad Dynamo-Yantar team last season. Libero Alexis Gonzalez recently defended the colors of the capital's Dynamo. His colleague in the role Pablo Meana won two Champions Leagues with the Belgorod team. And finally, the diagonal Lucas Chavez managed to shine in the ranks of Yaroslavich, although his stay in Russia was short.
Argentina, which has not shone at the world level for a long time, received from the FIVB the right to host the final tournament for a reason. This year, the country is hosting a host of cultural and sporting events to mark the 200th anniversary of the May Revolution. It marked the beginning of the process that ultimately led to Argentine independence (1816). Cordoba is the second largest city in the country (1.2 million inhabitants) and is located 700 km northwest of the capital Buenos Aires. The Final Six matches will take place in the Orfeo Superdomo, which can accommodate 14 thousand spectators, opened eight years ago.
The Russian team went to Cordoba immediately after the matches of the final round of the intercontinental round with the Americans in Kansas. So Bagnoli’s charges had plenty of time to adapt and prepare directly on the spot for the upcoming events - more than a week. To some extent, our volleyball players were lucky with the calendar. If the sixth round had to be played at home and the flight to Cordoba from Moscow was not as time-efficient as from the United States, then the players would inevitably face the sweltering heat that prevails in central Russia. Argentina is located in the Southern Hemisphere, it is winter there now and a few days ago it even snowed in Buenos Aires, and at night the air temperature dropped to minus eight degrees Celsius.
The Russian national team arrived in Cordoba with the following composition: setters Sergei Grankin and Sergei Makarov, diagonal players Maxim Mikhailov and Semyon Poltavsky, finishing players Taras Khtey, Yuri Berezhko, Denis Biryukov, Dmitry Krasikov, blockers Alexey Kazakov (captain), Alexander Volkov, Dmitry Musersky, Anton Astashenkov, libero Valery Komarov Alexander Yanutov. Musersky and Komarov are spending their first season in the national team; Krasikov and Biryukov have never played at the final stage of the World League before.
The Russians were in the same group “F” with Italy and Cuba, the other three “E” were Brazil, Serbia and Argentina. Brazil and Italy lead in the number of World League titles (8 each). If this parity is violated on July 25, it will most likely be by the South Americans. Our first opponent, the Squadra Azzurra, has not been able to win medals at official tournaments under the auspices of the FIVB and CEV for five years now. The last head-to-head meeting with Italy at the 2009 European Championships in Turkey ended in favor of the Russians - 3:0. Cuba, where there are many young players hungry for great success, seems to be a more dangerous opponent.
Unlike the Brazilians, who play domestic matches early in the morning, neighboring Argentina has a purely European approach to scheduling. Group “F” plays the first time (at 17.30 local time, at 0.30 the next day Moscow time), three “E” - the second (21.00 or 4.00 Moscow time). The organizers allocated the same time for the playoff matches - the semi-finals, the bronze medal match and the main battle of the 2010 World League. It is important that Russia, when leaving the group, will have a full day off before the semifinals.
Final Six schedule. July 21. Italy - Russia, Argentina - Serbia. July 22. Russia - Cuba, Serbia - Brazil. July 23. Cuba - Italy, Brazil - Argentina. July 24. Semi-finals. July 25. Match for 3rd place. Final.