Pool D: Croatia advancing after a decisive comeback, Slovakia ends up short

With clear two favourites in Pool D, France and Germany, the great question of who will proceed ahead to the next stage of the 2021 #EuroVolleyM was in the hands of Croatia, Latvia, Estonia and Slovakia.

While the Olympic champions topped the charts, followed by Germany, the battle for the remaining two spots was until the very last moments. Croatia and Latvia were able to secure their spots and will fight in the next phase.

France. There was much anticipation for the European debut of the new France, for two reasons. The team’s return to the field after the fantastic gold in Tokyo and the new technical breakthrough with the arrival on the bench of De Rezende, the famous Bernardinho.

France fulfilled the predictions perfectly by winning the Pool. Clearly, the new manager didn’t have much time to shape the group as he would like, even if the team remains built (like Tillie’s) around two pivots of the game like Toniutti and Ngapeth. The changes and the Brazilian sould will certainly be seen in the next days of the European Championship, as well as next summer.

Germany. Andrea Giani brought the team to Tallinn with a very clear path in mind: to bring all the players onto the pitch and avoid squeezing the starters’ talent with too many games. Emblematic is the stop imposed on the powerful Grozer, who could have played the match of September 7 against Latvia but was still left at rest with one knee in a relaxation mode. Like France, Germany had no particular problems in qualifying, knowing that they could count on a higher potential than the opposing teams.

Croatia. The team, led by Italian Emanuele Zanini (the only squad to play systematically with the two liberos in all of Pool D), achieved its masterpiece when it completely turned the game around against Estonia. A defeat would have meant an early return to Zagreb. When, with a negative score of 0-2 in the third set, team captain Zhoukouski threw himself behind the jury table to save a close to the impossible ball, it was clear that Croatia had more chances than the hosts. A single point does not decide a pool, but it can be its symbol. Estonia saw their European dream vanish at that very moment, as Croatia actually began planning the flight to Ostrava.

Latvia. Surprising in the opener of the Pool D, Latvia silenced Saku Suurhall by taking their maiden win against Estonia, Avo Keel’s team continued on their way to the fourth-place goal. The changeover is a great success for the team that had only one European presence to date, in 1995, when eight players of the current team were not born and captain Tom Svans did not even go to kindergarten. The international club experience for players like Hermans Egleskalns was essential to get the ticket to Ostrava. A second victory could have come, but the unclear start of the tie-break with Slovakia on 6 September weighed on the rest of the match.

Slovakia. In search of their best weapon, with Peter Michalovic sometimes replaced by Filip Gavenda, the head coach Marek Kardos tried to find a stable formation, while still using the bench a lot. Matej Patak, probably the most studied by the opposing teams, was able only in the match against Croatia to raise his percentages of attack efficiency above 50%. The only victory of the Slovaks in their 2021 European campaign was the tie-break with Latvia, while the best match was certainly the final one against Germany in which Krisko and his teammates almost deluded the fans that the 1/8 Finals could be won, losing only in the fifth set.

Estonia. The meticulous and splendid organization of Pool D, curated by the staff of the Estonian Volleyball Federation and President Hanno Pevkur, was not matched by an equal response by his team. The squad led by the French Cedric Enard has often suffered from the opposing game, with problems in reception and a wrong approach to the first key match, the opening of the pool and all #EuroVolleyM against Latvia. But bad luck hit the group led by Ardo Kreek. Too many injuries and problems for the spikers, starting with Allik’s serious knee problem, which forced him to substitute Kaibald on the roster and to play systematically with two opposites, Teppan and Venno.