France proves to be stronger than USA in first match of 2012 FIVB World League – Volleyball news
The opening match in Pool C of the 2012 FIVB World League produced quite an unexpected result as Olympic champions USA lost to France in a four-set match.
The “les bleus” of France turned many heads around with their spectacular performance at the Nelson Mandela Forum in Florence, Italy on Friday. French team posted 3-1 (17-25, 25-20, 26-24, 25-17) win over USA. The duo of Merien Moreau and Earvin Ngapeth
went into double figure score and led France to victory in the opening match.
US team opened the match with commanding serves by Matthew Anderson and picked up lead at the first technical timeout. Skipper Clay Stanley paced the game for USA with his frequent attack attempts. France lagged behind and could not match it performance
with the competitors in the first frame. With better attack and defence, USA finished the first set of the match with 25-17 on the board.
The head coach of French team closely analysed the first game and made some changes in the following set. He regrouped the players and sent better substitutions to fight the challenge. However, French side still trailed behind and USA led the scores. The
situation remained unchanged until US team started making reception errors. France, which was in search of opponents’ loopholes, promptly cashed the opportunity. French hitters produced quality shots and downed USA in the second set (25-20).
With second-set win, France pretty much recovered from the shock of early loss in opening set of the match. French team put more effort in third set and proved to be tough rival for USA. American team hit from different angles but could not produce desired
results. France captured another set (26-24) and improved to 2-1 in the match.
France was only one step away from victory in the fourth set. Head coach Philippe Blain constantly backed-up his team and eventually “les bleus” emerged successful. They ended fourth set at 25-17 and claimed match victory.
Winning Coach Philippe Blain praised the combined effort of his players. He was happy about his strategy of making some changes in the line-up, which produced better results. In his view, France took a jumpstart in the second set and turned the table. The
coach especially took the name of top-gun Marien Moreau while mentioning the key players of the match.
On contrary, the US coach seemed disappointed about his team’s performance. Speaking of the loss of opening match to France he said, “We couldn’t follow our technical plan, but we make a lot of mistakes in reception. Definitely we weren’t focused on the
match.”
In the meanwhile, the captain of US squad Clayton Stanley commented, “We started the game well, but after the first set we felt asleep. In some ways we blush with shame.”
Tags: