For a second day in a row the spectators in Frankfurt witnessed fast 3-0 wins in both games of the schedule. The quality of play was a little bit higher as all the coaches put out everything they had in stock.
In the most awaited game the hosts Germany enjoyed maybe their best performance under the management of Vital Heynen so far. In what was thought to be a close battle Argentina was not a match for the mighty Bundesteam. Devastating serves, garnished by a discouraging for the opponents defence and tall block left the visiting side with no chances to hope even for a set. Marcus Boehme and Gyorgy Grozer broke one of the Argentine weapons – the reception, after which it was a matter of time for the new Belogorie signing Lukas Kampa to set his team to a deserved success. The first two sets were a fiasco for the “gauchos”, so Javier Weber was forced to change his roster by taking out the superstar Luciano De Cecco, captain Rodrigo Quiroga, Pablo Crer and opposite Federico Pereyra. They were replaced by Nicolas Uriarte, Cristian Poglajen, Martin Costa Blanco and the young Ivan Castellani respectively. The substitutions had an immediate effect and Argentina was more competitive in the last third set. They finally put some pressure on the Germans, but not enough to turn the game around. The final score was 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 26-24). Grozer was expectedly the top scorer for the winners with 13 points, 3 of which straight from the serve line.
Germany coach Vital Heynen: “I was not happy with the third set. Argentina played with a completely new team but we couldn’t keep the pressure on. So we needed a little luck at the end of the third set but if you look at the results of the first two sets – it was a very good performance. The best we have played so far under my leadership.”
The Bulgarian spirit arrived in Frankfurt one day late, but still helped the 5th from the World League 2011 to take their first tournament victory. In an easy game against the Pool D outsiders Portugal the guys of the head coach Radostin Stoychev faced no problems and registered three points for the current standings. After watching yesterday’s defeat of his team against Germany from the bench, Valdir Sequeira lead his teammates with 14 points, but his endeavours were not enough to threaten a better Bulgarian side. At the other half of the field, Tsvetan Sokolov was a scoring machine and brought the victory for the Bulgarians with his 20 points.
On Sunday the schedule is slightly changed and the games are moved earlier. Argentina and Portugal will start at 12:00 CET, whereas in the derby game on Sunday the hosts Germany meets Bulgaria at 15:00 CET.
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Pictures: FIVB