The Imoco technician challenges the blues led by his wife It is the first time this has happened since their marriage
CONEGLIANO
There are many ideas offered by the Croatia-Italy match (tonight at 9pm, live Rai2) at the women’s volleyball European Championships. The first place in the group is up for grabs and the move from seed to the round of 16 scheduled for Sunday 29 in Belgrade against the fourth classified in group A (probably France or Bosnia Herzegovina); the hosts complete their calendar today, the blue will play tomorrow, facing the affordable Switzerland at 20. The transfer to Serbia, where the tournament will end on September 4th, was the minimum goal for Croatia, while for Italy it represents a step towards the medal zone, after the bitter Olympic disappointment.
It is also the challenge between student (now mature and multi-titled) and teacher: Daniele Santarelli on the red and white bench and Davide Mazzanti on the blue one shared three magnificent vintages in Casalmaggiore and Conegliano, before the call from Fipav for the coach of the former arrived in 2017. Scudetto Imoco and the subsequent promotion to head coach of the panthers for his deputy. There has already been a direct confrontation in the last Italian championship in the Conegliano-Perugia match, with Mazzanti’s Umbrians being able, among the few to have succeeded, to snatch a set from Palaverde.
However, it is the first time, after their 2017 wedding, that Monica De Gennaro, free of Imoco and the national team, and her husband Daniele Santarelli, who has been coaching Croatia for three years, will find themselves on opposite sides of the network. In the Gialloblù they raised all thirteen trophies won by Conegliano together, sharing even the most bitter defeats, such as the Italian Cup and Champions League finals in 2019. The images of the two have now become a good habit and almost an album in its own right. spouses who exchange a kiss in front of one of the many cups placed on the bulletin board; their home dribbling workouts in the kitchen corner of their Imoco Village apartment had been equally successful during the lockdown period. From a technical and tactical point of view Santarelli knows well that it will not be easy for his players to put Moki in difficulty, one who uses all the free moments to keep the bagher’s movement trained.
The Croatian athletes who play or have played in Italy also know this, starting with Samanta Fabris, who won two consecutive league titles in Conegliano. It was in Vicenza in 2008 the “galeotta” city for De Gennaro and Santarelli, where both played in the role of free, she in A1, he in B; the engagement was immediately followed by cohabitation, interrupted only temporarily due to the changes of company of both. Already in 2012/13 in Pesaro they found themselves in the situation that is normal today in Conegliano, Monica on the field, Daniele on the bench, that year as assistant to Andrea Pistola and his deputy Valerio Lionetti, curiously today in the same role in Conegliano. The following year De Gennaro moved to Imoco, becoming an authentic flag, while Santarelli passed on the bench of Urbino and then of Casalmaggiore, before joining the Gialloblù himself. The few precedents of the two as opponents, then only engaged, date back to the period between 2014 and 2015: the balance is in balance (4 wins each), but at Imoco the semi-final scudetto still burns, which began with two wins and ended at tie break for game 5 in favor of the Lombard team, who then won the championship. Tonight the balance will hang on one of the two sides, with the aim for both of them to continue the European Championship with the best result. –