France vs. Spain match preview – 2011 CEV Boys’ Youth European Volleyball Championship
The 2011 CEV Boys’ Youth European Championship is set to enter the fourth day on Wednesday, 20th April.
Turkish city Ankara has been the host of this wonderful event, which invited 12 best boys’ teams from all across Europe. The first preliminary round of the championship is underway with full intensity. Teams have been divided into two pools, while each pool
is supposed to feature 15 matches in the first stage. France is defending the title this year. So far, they have done amazingly well. The defending championship is playing in the Pool I of the tournament.
The French boys have not lost any game yet. They have exhibited a great performance and seem totally shaped up to seize the title once more. The French Team is scheduled to take on Spanish Team today, Wednesday, April 20.
The Bestepe Sports Hall in Ankara City will host the match at 17:00 (local time). Team France is headed by coach, Jean-Manuel Leprovost who has assembled a great team line for this competition. His strategies and formula have greatly benefitted the team
so far. The French mentor has high hopes to keep up the same energy throughout the tournament.
Spain is relatively low ranked team and is strongly tagged as underdogs. They had a very bad start of the campaign. Belgium proved to be detractor for them in the 2011 CEV Boys’ Youth European Championship Opener and pushed them in the blue corner.
Afterwards, the Spaniards came across Russian hotshots, who showed no mercy and claimed an easy win over Spain. It was even worse performance by Spain than the opening match. However, Spain created a bit of sensation in their third match against Ukraine.
The Spaniards performed better and successfully dismantled the power of opponents. Ukraine also had an average run in their previous matches and did not create a much of resistance.
Spanish Team eventually saw the face victory in third match. The success in match against Ukraine restored their confidence and boosted their morale. Next up, Spain is scheduled to face the pre-favourites of the tournament. The match between Spain and France
will really test the temperament of Spaniards. This is one tough match, which will surely acquire them to put up a great fight. The French guys are totally in-form and they are ready to crush anything in their way.
The head coach of Spanish team, Ricardo Maldonado will be relying on following set of players in today’s match:
CABRERA, Victor Manuel (ESP) Libero 1 TRINIDAD, Angel (ESP) Setter RAMIREZ, Sergio (ESP) Setter VILLENA, Andres J. (C) (ESP) Opposite DE DIEGO, Enrique (ESP) Opposite OSORIO, Gerard (ESP) Wing-spiker GONZALEZ, Juan Manuel (ESP) Wing-spiker MUÑOZ, Daniel (ESP) Wing-spiker MONTERO, Jesus Maria (ESP) Wing-spiker VIGIL, Alejandro (ESP) Middle-blocker DEL AGUILA, Alejandro (ESP) Middle-blocker FORNES, Miguel A. (ESP) Middle-blocker
On the other hand, Leprovost is not much worried about easy encounter. He is pretty confident to tackle the Spanish team. He targets to post a straight set win over opponents. For this particular match, the team roster of French side remains almost the same.
The French playing-squad will be as follows:
RICHARD, Quetin (FRA) Libero 1 PAULY, Geoffrey (FRA) Wing-spiker KABA, Kévin (FRA) Middle-blocker HENRY, Médéric (FRA) Middle-blocker JOUFFROY, Quentin (FRA) Middle-blocker BRIZARD, Antoine (FRA) Setter LE VOT, Thomas (FRA) Setter CLEVENOT, Trévor (C) (FRA) Wing-spiker ROSSARD, Thibault (FRA) Wing-spiker MASSACRIER, Nicolas (FRA) Wing-spiker WENDT, Jhon (FRA) Middle-blocker FALAFALA, Soane (FRA) Wing-spiker
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