2023-09-08 07:05:44
“It’s a lack of respect for us and for everyone who loves volleyball. » Despite his eternal smile and his infectious good humor, the anger is palpable in Barthélémy Chinenyeze. A frustration shared by the entire French volleyball team. While their round of 16 of the Euro, in Varna against Bulgaria, one of the host countries, was initially scheduled for Saturday evening, the partners of Earvin Ngapeth (package for the whole competition) learned on Tuesday, just after their last group match in Israel against Greece (3-0 victory), that this ax meeting would be brought forward to Friday evening (7:30 p.m. in France).
A change of date – unforeseen – which has the appearance of a prince’s act. Co-organizer of the competition, Bulgaria has indeed requested from the European Federation that the match be brought forward by 24 hours. A wish accepted without discussion or consultation despite the consequences for the France team which only arrived on Bulgarian soil on Wednesday.
“Sportingly, that puts us at a disadvantage, we have just arrived and that changes our program, while Bulgaria has been playing at home, in this room, for 10 days, thunders “Barth” Chinenyeze. It’s bad for the image of volleyball. You never see that in other sports. I even remember that during the World Championships in 2018 the regulations had completely changed during the competition. It’s weird and annoying. »
Faced with a fait accompli, the Blues had no say. They now hope to give their answer on the ground. “We talked about it among ourselves but there’s nothing we can do about it,” regrets the central office. We are not going to strike and lose 3-0. We have a competition to play. We will give everything to beat them. » History of continuing the adventure, of showing a different face than that displayed during the 1st phase of the Euro and confirming a European leader’s bib acquired since Olympic gold in 2021 in Tokyo.
“Apart from Romania (1-3 defeat) we won all the matches 3-0 or 3-1, puts the central tricolor into perspective. Even though the game was probably not perfect, we did the job. We finished first in the group, that’s the most important thing. But we know that our status is changing, we are the reigning Olympic champions, our opponents are all 400% against us. You can’t approach a match without going all out. You have to have the same motivation and demands against Romania as against Poland, to play as if it were the most important game of the year. We were probably not the best team in the first phase but we want to get a medal, or even win. This Euro is the last big competition with the Paris Games, we want to send a message to our opponents, to show that we will have to be counted on. »
The other consequence of the date change is that it will deprive the Blues of volleyball of the opening of the Rugby World Cup in France with the incandescent and enticing duel between the French XV and the All Blacks. “Of course, we immediately thought about it when we learned that our match was advanced,” confides Chinenyeze. We had planned to watch this clash between France and the Blacks. We are used to following the other French teams, we watched the Basketball World Cup. Some in the group are even watching the US Open. We are interested in sport in general and even more when it is the French team. We are supporters of the other French teams… but there I don’t know if we will be able to watch after our match, it will depend on the result.
If the French volleyball team regularly allows the channel L’Équipe to achieve good audiences, this time the match promises to be unbalanced. “Not only does this change of date impact our preparation program, but we also find ourselves playing the evening when the Rugby World Cup begins on TF1, continues Barthélémy Chinenyeze. We suspect that there won’t be many people watching TV to follow us… We’ll use that as additional motivation to win and pass this round. »
#Euro #volleyball #lack #respect #strike #anger #frustration #French #team