This coming weekend the city of Osijek will play host to Croatia’s national teams as they play their respective matches for the fifth leg in the prelims of the 2011 CEV Volleyball European League. The guys will play their neighbors from Slovenia, i.e. the undisputed leaders of Pool A, while the group mentored by Irina Kirillova will try to claim its first victory in this campaign by testing the likes of Romania. All games will be played in the splendid “Gradski vrt” sports hall which has a capacity of 3,500 spectators. After four rounds of play Croatia’s men have only one win while the girls are still winless. As they are currently at the bottom of the standings in their respective Pools, Croatia’s national teams hope to stop this negative streak in Osijek, also to properly celebrate the Independence Day which is coming up this Saturday there in Croatia.
The girls around Kirillova will play Romania on Saturday and Sunday after losing their previous games in Constanta.
“They are an excellent team and have been really improving in the past couple of years since Darko Zakoc started training the group. However, we want to go for a victory as this is essential for our self-confidence” states Croatian player Nikolina Kovacic.
Once again Croatia will be missing its main international stars like Maja Poljak, Senna Usic Jogunica and Sanja Popovic. “This is why we haven’t gotten good results so far, but we still work hard and train as if we were preparing for the final game of the Olympics” says Marijo Baselovic, the assistant coach of Irina Kirillova.
Croatia’s men have only one win so far in the prelims of the European League. More than 3 weeks ago the guys mentored by Radovan Malevic won their second game with Great Britain in Sheffield. Two weeks ago they suffered a double defeat to Slovenia in Maribor and now they want to go for revenge. “I am sure these will be very interesting matches and we’ll have a real Volleyball festival in Osijek. Of course we go for a victory but most of all I want to see good games against an excellent team” says Malevic.
And this time the home group will be more than happy to be joined by Igor Omrcen, the captain of Lube Banca Marche MACERATA and the major international star of Croatian Volleyball nowadays.
The girls around Kirillova will play Romania on Saturday and Sunday after losing their previous games in Constanta.
“They are an excellent team and have been really improving in the past couple of years since Darko Zakoc started training the group. However, we want to go for a victory as this is essential for our self-confidence” states Croatian player Nikolina Kovacic.
Once again Croatia will be missing its main international stars like Maja Poljak, Senna Usic Jogunica and Sanja Popovic. “This is why we haven’t gotten good results so far, but we still work hard and train as if we were preparing for the final game of the Olympics” says Marijo Baselovic, the assistant coach of Irina Kirillova.
Croatia’s men have only one win so far in the prelims of the European League. More than 3 weeks ago the guys mentored by Radovan Malevic won their second game with Great Britain in Sheffield. Two weeks ago they suffered a double defeat to Slovenia in Maribor and now they want to go for revenge. “I am sure these will be very interesting matches and we’ll have a real Volleyball festival in Osijek. Of course we go for a victory but most of all I want to see good games against an excellent team” says Malevic.
And this time the home group will be more than happy to be joined by Igor Omrcen, the captain of Lube Banca Marche MACERATA and the major international star of Croatian Volleyball nowadays.
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου