FROM THE ENCOUNTER IN TOKYO. Poland is too strong for this Italy. It ends 3-0 for the world champions and the Azzurri must surrender to those who are the real favorites of the men’s Olympic volleyball tournament. The match lasted just over 90 minutes and the score speaks for itself: 25-20, 26-24, 25-20. The Azzurri resisted especially in the second set, only to drop in the third when Blengini brought in other young players who did not look disfigured on the pitch at all. Italy without Simone Giannelli, the setter kept at rest as a precaution due to a muscle strain in his right quadriceps. In its place is Riccardo Sbertoli, 23, who will ultimately be among the best in the absolute sense.
The first point is from Wilfredo Leon, the Cuban naturalized Polish champion who plays in Perugia, and from there you understand that the day will not be easy for the Azzurri at all. The initial set is quite balanced, with Italy also taking the lead with Galassi (2-3) but Zaytsev misses the joke and everything needs to be redone. Leon takes a few breaks but never leaves the pitch, so Bartosz Kurek’s brute strength gains height, 2 meters and five centimeters of muscle and technique that you can find wherever you need it. His ace allows Poland to break away (7-4) and from now on for the Azzurri to get back on track will in fact no longer be possible. Blengini also throws in Kovar and Matteo Piano but the first set ends as it had opened: Leon’s crush and 25-20 for Poland.
The second set opens with a Polish ace (4-0 score) and Leon always on the pitch, even if the difference is mainly Jurek who immediately brings the score to 5-2. Michieletto, a bit subdued compared to his debut with Canada, catches the equal, comforted by the challenge that confirms the point of 6-6. It would be the right time to try to disassemble the Poles but it is difficult to stretch. It goes on point by point, Sbertoli revs up while our team continues to make too many mistakes in the bar. Blengini calls a couple of time outs to review the things to do and to break the rhythm. Two shots from Zaytsev first and from Michieletto immediately after complete the hooking operation (23-23). It would take very little to win the set and put everything back into play, instead Galassi first cancels a set ball to the Poles and then grants him the second by making a mistake. Kurek closes the account at 26-24.
In the third set it is immediately clear that Poland, led on the bench by the Belgian coach Vital Heynen, controls and Italy floats. The advantage of the world champions also reaches up to seven points. In this way, Vettori, Piano and Lavia enter from the bench and a B version of the Italian sextet comes out, which all in all does not mind. In reality, the technical gap is clear. The Poles make few changes and close the match with Nowakowski, one who physically interprets him as the wall having the appearance of reinforced concrete. The set ends 25-20, like the first, and Poland wins 3-0 net.
“I think the bulk of the difference was technical,” Gianlorenzo Blengini, Italvolley’s technical commissioner, cut short. “The first set in particular is to be read technically with a fairly large difference between serve and reception between the two teams,” explained the blue coach. «We started by beating better than in the match against Canada. But this is a team with players of the highest quality at an absolute level. How is Giannelli? It is still early, the situation must be assessed hour by hour. I don’t just have to worry about his absence, first of all I have to find solutions to give him time to recover ».