The city of Osijek will be playing host to Croatia's men's national team also for the last round of play in the prelims of the 2011 CEV Volleyball European League with Great Britain being the last opponent for the home guys. Two weeks ago Croatia did already play at the “Gradski vrt” sports hall – which has a capacity of 3,500 – sharing wins with Pool leader and neighboring Slovenia.
Croatia is ranked at the bottom of the standings in Pool A with a 2:8 win/loss record; right at the start of their campaign in the European League, Croatia and Great Britain crossed their ways in Sheffield where the Britons stormed back from two sets down to claim the first game at the tie-break before losing the second in straight sets.
Head coach Radovan Malevic will have to cope with the absence of all major stars such as Igor Omrcen, Toni Kovacevic and Andjelko Cuk but he is still quite optimistic, although he shows his respect for the British team. “They have been preparing for almost 4 years for the 2012 Olympics in London. They have a few excellent players with great jumping skills. I am sure we’ll have very interesting matches in Osijek. We are currently in the process of monitoring and testing quite many players to prepare the team for the future and we have been using the European League as a good way to prepare for the Olympic Qualifications coming up this fall. I hope that the tournament that we’ll play in November will also take place here in Osijek” said Malevic.
The guests from the UK are expected to arrive on Thursday, two days before the first match
Croatia is ranked at the bottom of the standings in Pool A with a 2:8 win/loss record; right at the start of their campaign in the European League, Croatia and Great Britain crossed their ways in Sheffield where the Britons stormed back from two sets down to claim the first game at the tie-break before losing the second in straight sets.
Head coach Radovan Malevic will have to cope with the absence of all major stars such as Igor Omrcen, Toni Kovacevic and Andjelko Cuk but he is still quite optimistic, although he shows his respect for the British team. “They have been preparing for almost 4 years for the 2012 Olympics in London. They have a few excellent players with great jumping skills. I am sure we’ll have very interesting matches in Osijek. We are currently in the process of monitoring and testing quite many players to prepare the team for the future and we have been using the European League as a good way to prepare for the Olympic Qualifications coming up this fall. I hope that the tournament that we’ll play in November will also take place here in Osijek” said Malevic.
The guests from the UK are expected to arrive on Thursday, two days before the first match
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