Team Slovenia flies out to Philippines to secure VNL playoff spot
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The Slovenian men’s national team has done an excellent job in the Volleyball Nations League this far. Next week, they will play in the Philippines to confirm their place in the playoffs. Slovenia has played in Nagoya, Japan, and Orleans, France, these past few weeks. They returned from each of these journeys with three wins and one loss. They have recorded wins against Serbia, France, Iran, Argentina, Canada, and Cuba. Still, they had to admit defeat to Bulgaria and Brazil.
After contesting eight of their 12 matches in the first stage of the Nations League, Slovenia sits in fourth place and they are well on their way to secure a spot in the quarter-final matches at the final tournament in Gdansk, Poland, scheduled for the second half of July.
The Poles, who are directly qualified for the playoffs, will be the first rivals of the Slovenians in Pasay City in the Philippines. There will be matches with China and Italy in the next two days. After a rest day, on Sunday, the Slovenians will face the Netherlands, whom they beat twice already in preparatory matches before the start of the VNL.
“There is a long journey ahead of us. We need to keep a calm head and stay focused. New matches await us, with which we will collect points for the world ranking and, of course, to secure a place at the final tournament in Gdansk,” said head coach Gheorghe Cretu. “Only the cream of the best teams in the world compete in the VNL. Regardless of who is standing on the other side of the net, Slovenia can defeat all of them with the right focus!”
The Slovenians know what the matches in the Philippines can bring.
Klemen Čebulj“We expect everyone to come to the Philippines optimally prepared and, just like us, try to secure the last points to advance to the final tournament. The most important thing will be to play with the highest possible degree of concentration."
Žiga Štern also did a lot of work at the last tournament in France, and he also emphasises that everything will depend on the Slovenian team itself. “In the Philippines, matches with the world’s volleyball superpowers await us. We must be the ones who will show everything we can on the court. If that happens, I believe we have nothing to fear!” he said.
The success of the performances in the Philippines will not only count towards the Nations League standings, where Japan is at the top without defeat, followed by the USA with seven wins, one point ahead of Slovenia, and Brazil in third place. Each match also brings or takes away points in the world volleyball ranking, which next summer will be the criterion for awarding the last tickets to the Olympic Games to teams that will not secure a place at Paris 2024 through this year’s qualifiers. Slovenia has so far maintained its position in the ranking but has moved much closer to the top. It is less than a point and a half behind seventh-placed Argentina.
