Pool A Preview: Poland and Serbia to fight for the top spot
Editorial
Poland and Serbia stood side-by-side at the podium at the end of the CEV EuroVolley 2019 Men, but in this year’s edition of the tournament the continental powerhouses will meet a lot earlier than that as they’re both on Pool A, alongside Belgium, Greece, Portugal and Ukraine.
Playing at home at the Tauron Arena, in Krakow, reigning world champions Poland count on their home support to quickly put a frustrating fifth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics in the past. 12 players that competed in Japan were called for a training camp ahead of the EuroVolley, meaning stars like outside hitter Wilfredo Leon and Michal Kubiak and opposite Bartosz Kurek should all be available as the Polish try to win the continental title for the second time, following their victory back in 2009.
The hosts, though, will face massive competition right from the start, as reigning champions Serbia are on the same pool and will pose a huge challenge when the teams meet on September 4. The Serbians will be looking for their fourth title (2001, 2011 and 2019) and are on a ten-match winning streak after taking bronze back in 2017. Unlike most of the other title contenders, Serbia didn’t compete at the Tokyo Olympics and made the EuroVolley their absolute priority in 2021, so expect players like opposite Aleksandar Atanasijevic, outside hitter Uros Kovacevic and middle blocker Srecko Lisinac to be in top form when the tournament starts.
When it comes to tradition and star power, Belgium is probably the third-best team in the pool. Fresh from finishing fourth at the CEV European Golden League 2021, the team will compete in the EuroVolley for the 17th time in 2021 and even though is yet to win a medal, it came agonizingly close in 2017, when it finished fourth. The team’s success in the tournament will strongly depend on the form of star outside hitter Sam Deroo, who typically carries the Belgian offense.
Ukraine, which finished second in the European Golden League, has more diversified options to score as opposite Dmytro Vietskiy and outside hitters Ian Iereshchenko and Oleh Plotnytskyi, who are both fantastic servers, share the scoring load. The country has a brief history in the EuroVolley, having appeared in just five editions so far, and could be poised to improve from their sixth-place finish in 1993.
Portugal brings a handful of familiar faces to this year’s edition of the EuroVolley in setter Tiago Violas, opposite Marco Ferreira, outside hitter Tiago Pereira and libero Ivo Casas. Their tenth-place finish at the European Golden League indicates the Portuguese might have some trouble getting out of such a strong pool in their sixth appearance in the tournament.
To do that, they will certainly need to defeat Greece, something they did two years ago, when the teams also were on the same pool. The Greek have a long history in the tournament, being set to compete among the continent’s elite for the 16th time, but their only medal, a bronze, dates back to 1987. Opposite Nikos Zoupanis, the top scorer of the 2019 CEV European Silver League, will be instrumental to the Greeks’ aspirations in Krakow.
Pool A is clearly split in three tiers, having Poland and Serbia as medal contenders, Ukraine and Belgium in the middle block and Portugal and Greece dreaming about making it to the elimination round. The margins between each of these tiers are slim, though, which could lead to a series of upsets in Krakow.