An Italy characterized by three. The third match of the European Championship group stage is worth the third victory, and it is 3-0 again. This time the hosts have to make way for the Italians, but Isabelle Haak isn’t enough for them. Italy takes center stage at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg, in front of 6,800 spectators in the stands. In an hour and a quarter, with a 25-18, 25-23, 25-14 which tells of moments of difficulty only in the second set, the Italians secure first place in pool D with 9 points, with the round of 16 one step away. «Sweden is not Turkey or Serbia, but a good team: if it scores its points, we don’t have to think about our mistakes», the mantra repeated by Velasco, which recalls the Olympic motto: «here and now it means that we have to think not about yesterday, about past mistakes, but about playing, also accepting that the opponent can put us in difficulty».
Satisfaction also for Sarah Fahr, who returned to the field after the rest period granted by the Italian coach with Montenegro. “We’re resting to stay in shape for the entire tournament”, the words of the Italian, who evidently also used the opportunity to read some of the books Velasco gave to his players, the latest novelty from the imaginative coach. «But he clarified to us that it is not a task – specifies Fahr – I have already finished the first one given by Julio, now I am reading one that I had brought with me, then I will move on to the second one by Velasco…” The book of the Italian evening instead recounted a high level performance by the Italian team, capable of defending a lot and of precisely transforming the opportunities created in attack. This time Velasco fields Orro as director, Egonu in place 2, Sylla Antropova spikers, Danesi and Fahr central players, libero Fersino. Danesi and Antropova launch Italy into a 4-0 lead with Orro immediately in the game in reading the distribution; then the match picks up pace, Sweden struggles to go into attack and Egonu doesn’t show the ball in the net to their opponents when he decides to change gear in the game (13-6), which particularly highlights the Italian center where Fahr and Danesi show that they have a different pace than their opponents (18-13). (9 points only in the first set with 62% in attack) of power (25-18). In the second set Italy immediately leads 4-1 with Egonu and Antropova dominating the high balls, but Micelli’s national team forces the serve and closes the gap (5-4). Isabelle Haak responds to Antropova (7-7) Egonu caresses the ball with a beautiful lob (11-9), then the set is a wonderful head-to-head break at 20-22, Italy is alert, has patience, then Antropova crushes hard and equalizes the score (22-22), Fahr blocks Andersson (23-22), and repeats herself when she blocks Hellvig’s path with class (24-23). The 25-23 comes from a direct error from the Swedish number 14. Third set with Italy in control of the game (13-7). (25-14) and Italy beats Sweden 3-0. Tomorrow is a rest day for the Italians, who will return to the field on Tuesday at 4pm (live on Rai 2, Sky Sport Uno, Sky Sport Arena, DAZN) against Slovakia led by Italian coach Martino Volpini.