2011 CEV Men’s European Championship: Greece and Turkey in a head-to-head battle
The two bitter rivals of the volleyball world are neighbouring countries Greece and Turkey and recently they played two qualification matches in Ankara and Heraklion for the CEV European Championship. It is always tough to judge the best out of them as both of them are equipped with all necessary tools and techniques to demonstrate a good volleyball game. This time around, 2011 CEV Men’s European Championship Qualification matches dragged the two teams in a heated competition and both went to the bout with their guns loaded.
The first combat was staged in the Turkish city Ankara last week on 5th September 2010. About 6,000 spectators made their presence felt in the Baskent Volleyball hall in Ankara by cheering and raising their voices in support of their favourite teams.
The Turkish team used the advantage of home-court and crushed the Greeks by posting 3-1 (25-19, 25-16, 23-25, and 25-13) victory. By doing so, they moved one step closer to catch a spot in the final round of the 2011 CEV European Championship.
Turkey’s team was in its finest form and didn’t take much time to develop good strategy against Greeks. They analyzed each player’s position and came up with the right sort of attack for them. The first two sets saw Turkish players scoring points after points. They played with superb brilliance and claimed first two sets’ win over Greece.
However the rival team weren’t just sitting ducks that could be plundered. They rather proved to be wolves in the sheep’s clothes as they formed a spectacular counter. The Greek players made a come-back in the game and played marvellously to dominate in the third set. They produced better spikes and impressive hits eventually raising their score. The Turks fought well but couldn’t avoid the loss of the third set.
The set victory for Greeks created a bit of anxiety among Turkish fans. The Greek team tried to stay on the same course in order to match the game-score as Turks fired-up by the damage done by the previous set looked vicious in destroying the Greek defence.
The fourth set started and fans witnessed an extra-ordinary performance by the Turkish team. They brought their body, mind and soul in to the game and displayed an error-free game play. On the other side of the net, the Greek team couldn’t penetrate heavy spikes of Turkish players with an onslaught forming. As a result the host team made their way to the final victory in the Qualification round.
The next match was scheduled in Heraklion, Greece. The arrangement was set-up in charming island of Crete. It was big challenge for Greece to take revenge from Turkey. Since Turkish team won the first match wit a margin of 3-1, so they set a target of 3-0 in order for Greece to survive any chance to staying in the game. On the other hand Turkey was all pumped to get their hands on the final slot of 2011 CEV European Championship by achieving triumph in second match.
Greece, nonetheless, had the advantage of local supports and home-ground. The head coach of Greece’s team Gordon Mayforth seemed confident about the team-line and disclosed his thoughts before the start of play in second match. He said, “The first game was not played well and we made many mistakes. We will try to curb now and we want to push Turkey with our serve. I know it will not be easy to win 3-0 and if we lose one set we fill us anxiety but the only result we want is 3-0. I believe our team will perform much better than a week ago since we have had more time to practice all together”.
The Greek team entered the second competition under-huge pressure and high expectations from home-crowd. The second match was played in the new sports hall of Alikarnassos-Heraklion which had the capacity of facilitate 5,200 spectators. In the end despite of their great effort and fan support, Greek team failed to win the second match against Turkey. The final slot in the 2011 CEV European Championship was allotted to Turkey for their dazzling success over Greece.
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