There will be no Zaksa poker in Europe because the Poles failed to enter the top eight and Italy wants to try to get back on the continental throne five years after the triumph of Civitanova in Berlin. It can be done but the road is difficult starting from the quarter-finals where the Italian teams will not be able to distract themselves. Lube Civitanova will begin their adventure in the direct elimination phase against Halkbank Ankara which started its season well, conquering, among other things, the Piacenza pitch but then lost its luster a bit. Trento will face Berlin, team that he knows quite well having met several times in the past and the Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza will face the leaders of the Polish championship, Jasztrebski Wegiel, full of former Super League players.
Halkbank Ankara, Civitanova’s opponent (teams on the pitch on Wednesday 21st at 4.00 pm, after 20 championship days leads the Turkish championship with 56 points fruit of as many victories. Last season, after dominating the regular season in the play offs, in the final, he raised the white flag with Ziraat Bank Ankara. The Turkish team has had two absolute protagonists of the Super League on the field in recent seasons, the Dutch opposite Abdel Aziz and the French spiker, reigning Olympic champion Earvin Ngapeth who, however, may not be on the pitch as he has missed the last few games.
The Turkish setter is the American Micah Ma’a, in his second year at Halkbank after his experience in Poland at Katowice, while the opposite is the case Nimir Abdel Aziz, in Italy for many seasons, between Belluno, Cuneo, Milan, Trento and Modena, in his second season in the ranks of Halkbank. The starting spiker should be Earvin Ngapeth who in Italy played in Cuneo but above all in Modena until last season but the Frenchman often remained on the bench in the first part of the season and the starters were the expert 34-year-old Canadian spiker John Gordon Perrin, last year with Verona and already in Italy with Piacenza’s shirt in 2015-2016 and another 31-year-old expert, Izzet Unver, former Fenerbahce and this year moved to Halkbank. In the center they play Turkish Because Matic, second year with Halkbank and another Turk, Yunus Emre Tayaz, also in his second season in the ranks of the Turkish champion team. The libero is Done Volkan, an institution at Halkbank where he has played since 2019.
At home, Berlin, Trento’s opponent (teams on the field on Wednesday 21st in Germany at 7.30pm) have lost only twice so far out of 20 matches played and leads the table with 4 points ahead of Lunenburg and won the Champions League play-offs by eliminating Tours. The setter is German Johannes Tille who returned to his homeland last year after a season, the first outside the national borders, Saint-Nazaire in France, the opposite is the Czech Marek Sotola, 23 years old, who has already spent three seasons in Berlin. Two former Super League protagonists, the French, play in the band Timothy Carle, four years ago in Italy with the Vibo Valentia shirt, before moving to Germany, and the German Ruben Schott, in 2017/18 in force in Milan and Berlin for two years, after three seasons in Poland. In the center they are lined up the Estonian Timo Tammemaa, 32 years old this year in Berlin and the Australian Nehemiah Mote, formerly of Friedrichshafen. The free one is Japanese Satoshi Tsuiki, arrived in Germany four years ago and moved to Berlin two seasons ago.
Lo Jasztrebski Wegiel, rival of Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza (played at the PalaBanca at 8.30pm on Wednesday 21st) won with a margin in group D, is clearly leading the PlusLiga with 19 wins and only two defeats in the league and seems very set on winning all the trophies in his homeland to which he would like to add the Champions League. The Polish team can count on the French Olympic champion setter as director Benjamin Toniutti, who in Italy played in Ravenna in 2013/14, then from 2015 in polionia first at Kedzierzyn Kozle and then from 2021 Jasztrebski Wegiel. The opposite is another Frenchman, Jean Patry, in Italy in Cisterna and then in Milan and transferred to Poland from this season.
In the band they play the home idol Tomasz Fornal, five in the Jasztrebski squad and also in the Polish national team and also an old acquaintance from the Italian championship, the Croatian Marko Sedlacek, ex Piacenza, Monza and in Cisterna last year. The central ones are the monumental Norbert Huber European champion for three years with Zaksa and from this season with his long-time rivals and the Ukrainian Yuri Gladyr, in 2018/2019 in Italy in Siena and then again at Jasztrebski Wegiel. The free is Jakub Popiwczak, another player in the national team, a true flagship of this team given that he is in his eleventh season with the Jasztrebski Wegiel shirt.
2024-02-20 19:06:01
#Super #Leagues #Berlin #Jasztrebski #Wegiel #Halkbank
