Coach Mario Di Pietro returns from Holland with a silver medal around his neck. The new Serie A2 coach Tinet took second place at the U22 European Championships by sitting on the blue bench as assistant to Vincenzo Fanizza. Among the silver Italians, congratulations also go to former Passerotto Mattia Boninfante.
An excellent result for the national team considering that the roster was missing three big players for the category such as Luca Porro, Laurenzano and Bovolenta, all busy with the senior national team to prepare for the Paris Olympics.
Despite this, the Azzurri went through a tough group and beat a candidate for final victory like Poland in the semi-final.
The final against France was a real roller coaster ride with the French team taking a 2-0 lead and also having a match point available in the fourth set.
The tie break is not for the faint of heart. Italy ahead 2-0. Then a ball on the ground, defended by the French libero, causes Fanizza to express civil complaints but he gets a red card. From 3-0 we move to 2-2. Despite this, the Azzurri have 5 match points. One, on Orioli’s serve, would have even been converted, but the Slovakian referee judges the ball outside and the cry of victory remains strangled in the throat. In the end it was France who celebrated 22-20.
“However, I consider the path extremely positive – says Coach Di Pietro – at the beginning of the event we will have put our signature to achieving this result, also considering the defections in the team. Despite this, the team became united, grew during the event and showed great character because it wasn’t at all easy to beat Poland and not even react in that way against France. Obviously there is a lot of regret for not having achieved the 5 match points, even if the refereeing didn’t favor us in this sense. But they are also convinced that when we metabolise the disappointment we will realize that we have truly accomplished a sporting feat and we will be satisfied and proud of ourselves”
