The Finnish men’s national volleyball team lost to the Czech Republic 0–3. The team will face Estonia in the final game of the group on Saturday.
STT Sports,
SpongeBob Forsberg,
Sari Sirkki
The Finnish men’s national volleyball team will meet in the last game of the Golden League group stage on June 17. Estonian. will show the match on its channels.
The path of the Finnish men’s national volleyball team in the summer’s Golden League started on Wednesday in Tampere. Opponent Czech Republic claimed a clear 3–0 away victory in the C group match.
The set points were recorded in favor of the Czech Republic 25–17, 25–21, 25–17.
The defeat marked the end of Finland’s future dreams. All in all, Finland would have needed a 3–0 or 3–1 win in the Czech match so that further chances would have remained more strongly alive.
The group leader Czech Republic, which is tied for the final tournament spot, was ahead of Finland in everything in Tampere and went all out at the end of each set.
Joonas Jokela was Finland’s best scorer. Hakkuri scored 12 points.
– The guy was good today. On the other side of the net, the professionals showed why they are professionals. They also had a chance to win, so they tightened the screws a bit, and we couldn’t keep up.
The first set started as an even match, but the visitor lost after being defeated by 6–7 points. The Czech Republic won five points in a row and eventually ran away with a 25–17 set win.
Especially the number one hacker in the Czech Republic Marek Sotola did what he wanted on the field. With his difficult passes, the Czech Republic escaped from an 11–8 situation in the opening set to a 15–8 lead.
– The first set left quite a lot to improve. The passing game has not worked. Six service errors and zero aces. We clearly lost in reception and attack, Ylen Urheilu’s expert Mikko Esko analyze.
In the second set, Finland persevered to a 12–12 situation. The end of the set was a celebration for the Czech Republic.
The Czech Republic lost its home match
The third installment followed the script of the previous two. Finland hung with the opponent to 7–7. After that, the Czech Republic won 18 points, Finland ten.
The course of the match was well described by the fact that the Czech Republic used only one overtime during it, in the final set.
At the end of May, Finland lost to the Czech Republic in the Golden League by a narrow margin of 2–3, but now they have come a long way.
– Of course, you can’t be satisfied if you lose 0-3. Hats off to the opponent though. The Czech Republic played much better than in their home match, Finland’s captain Antti Ronkainen said.
Finland started the Golden League with a win over Estonia. After that came the first loss to the Czech Republic, a win over Slovakia and then two consecutive 0-3 losses to Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
– Opponents’ teams have had an upward trend. I think we have played pretty similar volleyball, except for the previous game in Slovakia. It was quite a pancake, Joonas Jokela said.
– I don’t feel that our team’s self-confidence crumbled as the tournament progressed. It could be that someone pooped in their pants, but I guess not. At least not for me.
Mikko Esko, on the other hand, estimates that the young team’s self-confidence may have begun to waver.
– We started with good confidence and got a good success right away against Estonia. Little by little, the failures may have eaten away at the team’s confidence. No clear top six has been found. Head coach today Joel Banks trusted the same players for a long time, and didn’t make changes at a terribly early stage, which could have been done, Esko said.
Finland ends Group C of the Golden League on Saturday in Tampere against Estonia.
The final tournament of the Golden League will be played in Croatia on the 24th-26th. June.