Translated material
Baptism by Italy
The debutants tested their strength in matches with the European champions
In the third round of the preliminary stage of the World League, the Russian men's team twice defeated the reigning European champions, the Italians, on the road. In Genoa, head coach Zoran Gajic's charges did not give up a single game to the "Squadra Azzurra" - 3:0 (25:21, 25:21, 25:18), two days later in the capital of the 2006 Winter Games Turin, the guests again celebrated success - - 3:1 (25:16, 25:19, 23:25, 25:23). The Russians and the French lead Group C by a wide margin - five wins in six matches each. The Italians are three wins behind. It seems that in order to get a place in the final tournament of the World League, the gold medal winners of last year's continental championship can only count on a single wild card from the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB).Our trip to Italy, where the team went immediately after the visit to China, has positive and negative results. The young setter Sergei Grankin, a graduate of the Yaroslavl Neftyanik, was pleased. He did not go to the Celestial Empire, he trained in Moscow and was summoned by Gayich specifically for the matches with Italy. In the Apennines, Grankin took his place in the starting line-up of the national team for the first time and did not lose face. The baptism of fire of the world champion among youth teams was successful. Sergei did not shy away, interacted well with his partners, and avoided the anxiety inherent in such cases.
Lokomotiv-Belogorye's central blocker Alexander Abrosimov, another debutant of the national team, also played these meetings brilliantly. The silver medalist of the Russian Championship was with the team in China, but did not appear on the site in Asia, and now his time has finally come. In Genoa, Alexander came on as a substitute, scored three successful blocks and pleasantly surprised with a powerful serve, making two aces. In Turin, Gayich trusted Abrosimov even more - the Belgorod resident began the meeting in the main six.
Those who sincerely care about our team and wish it victories in the World League and at the November world championship cannot help but be upset by the conflict between Gayich and the diagonal Semyon Poltavsky, which happened back in Genoa. The team's top scorer, the leader of the country's champions, Dynamo Moscow, never made it to the capital of the White Olympics, having flown out to Moscow after the first match. The conflict occurred due to the different approaches of the player and the coach to such a concept as adherence to a sports regime, and in its essence is more reminiscent of an episode from Soviet times. For some reason, Gayich took a rather ordinary situation very painfully and actually kicked Poltavsky out of the team. How long is the big question. And it is not a fact that after this incident the volleyball player will have the same desire to play under Gayich.
Be that as it may, throwing away performers of Poltavsky’s level is an unaffordable luxury for the national team and its coaching staff. It is quite enough that the 2002 World League champions, setter Vadim Khamuttskikh and blocker Andrei Egorchev, are not recruited into the team for no particular reason. Today, the diagonal position in the national team is quite problematic. Poltavsky's understudy Sergei Baranova from Loko-Belogorye does not always act consistently, and Pavel Kruglov was taken to the national team in advance - even in the capital's Luch, he was forced out of the lineup by the middling Ukrainian legionnaire Mikola Pavlov.
One of the most important aspects of any coach’s work is the ability to find a common language with stars, even those who have a difficult character. Let us remember the difficult relationship between the former “steering” of the team Gennady Shipulin and the diagonal Roman Yakovlev. For the sake of the team result, Shipulin made compromises both with the player and with his approaches to organizing the educational and training process and the life of the team. Yakovlev was the leader of the team at our victorious 1999 World Cup and World League four years ago. Shipulin broke up with Roman only in the fall of 2003 after the European Championships, when Baranov was no longer inferior to his more experienced colleague in his role.
The example of the Polish national team is also typical. Argentine specialist Raul Lozano, who led the team, expelled blocker Lukasz Kadrzewicz and libero Krzysztof Ignaczak from the team before Euro 2005 for violating the rules. The Poles had serious problems in these positions during the continental championship, as a result of which they did not qualify for the playoffs. Lozano soon cooled down and returned the disgraced Ignacak and Kadzhevich to the national team. Now these volleyball players are playing for Poland again in the World League.
Results. World League. 3rd round. Group "A". Poland - Serbia and Montenegro - 1:3, 3:1, USA - Japan - 3:0, 3:1. Team position: USA, Serbia and Montenegro - 10 points each, Poland - 9, Japan - 7. Group “B”. Finland - Argentina - 0:3, 0:3, Portugal - Brazil - 0:3, 0:3. Team position: Brazil - 12, Finland - 9, Argentina - 8, Portugal - 7. Group “C”. Italy - Russia - 0:3, 1:3, China - France - 0:3, 0:3. Team position : Russia, France - 11 each, Italy - 8, China - 6. Group “D”. Egypt - South Korea - 1:3, 0:3.