Italy is calling and the city of Messina is ready to respond with its usual warmth.
This evening, at 8pm, a “PalaRescifina” full of people and full of enthusiasm will embrace the national team of coach Ferdinando Fefè De Giorgi to push them to victory in the matches against Cuba and Brazil which will bring the curtain down on the second edition of the “Fipav Cup Men Elite”.
The Azzurri were welcomed upon arrival in the city by the mayor Federico Basile who presented the players and the Azzurri staff with the city pennant and wished coach De Giorgi’s boys a warm good luck for their experience in Messina. «Sport is an extraordinary vehicle for promotion – said Mayor Basile – and represents an opportunity to make Messina known to an increasingly wider audience. I extend my warmest welcome to the boys of the Italian national team: we are happy to have you here and we are rooting for you.”
At his side is the president of the local Fipav committee. Alessandro Zurro.
The coach Fefè De Giorgi spent his first words on the welcome given by the city to the team: «In the meantime – he said – I want to thank you for the hospitality, I am sure that the matches will be wonderful because the level of the teams in the tournament is really strong, the spectacle will not be lacking and we are waiting for you at the “PalaRescifina”».
Yesterday was a rest day for the Azzurri who will have a training session with the ball at the “PalaRescifina” from 11am today. Giannelli and his teammates are fresh from the marathon success in Reggio Calabria over Germany complete with the record of the longest set in history (64-66 the score). So they are on the right track to lift the trophy as they did in the debut edition last year but to do so they will need to capitalize as best they can on the double “Messina” commitment: it will start tonight (8pm) against the Caribbean team and then close on Sunday (9pm) against Brazil.
Always dangerous opponents, in particular the Carioca national team, but these are the tests that the Azzurri need: «We have chosen tough opponents with many technical and physical qualities – he said – precisely to have tough matches, which are the ones we need to break in the game mechanisms specifically for the European Championship – said the Azzurri coach – Germany has proven that they are, this was a match to fight for every ball but the others will not be any less».
De Giorgi analyzes Italy’s current state of health: «We are in a transition phase, moving from physical and technical workloads to matches. We can’t expect to be brilliant now because the work is aimed at being brilliant at the European Championship and these matches will be of great use to us in this context, as will the 5 days of training in Florence before the debut in Naples.”
Last night in the second and last match played at the “PalaCalafiore” in Reggio Calabria it was a marathon. The match that saw Cuba beat Germany ended in the fifth set after over 150 minutes of play. The Caribbean, ahead by two sets, were put back together but managed to prevail in the fifth set. This is the sequence of sets: 25-23, 25-23, 20-25, 21-25, 21-19.
