France, Belgium, Italy victorious on first day of WEVZA U19 Men’s Championship

The national teams of France, Belgium, and Italy emerged victorious from their respective fixtures on the first day of the WEVZA U19 Men’s International Tournament, which is due to continue until July 5 at the Pavilhão de Santa Maria Maior in Viana do Castelo, European City of Sport in 2023.

France vs Germany 3-2 (23-25, 27-25, 21-25, 25-20, 15-8)

France beat Germany 3-2 in the opening game of Pool A. The match was hard-fought, with the eagerness to score quickly leading the teams to make mistakes in attack and, above all, service, as Slimane Belmadi, coach of France, acknowledged in the end: “This triumph was a good way to start the tournament, as Germany have a good team, with good players and our players are still very young and made many mistakes, especially with their service. It is still too early to assess the value of this victory because we lack consistency and there is not the chemistry that we want, but we have only been together for two weeks, and therefore, it is something that we need to improve with time.” Mathis Henno, France’s captain, top scored with 22 points, as Felix Baumann registered 18 for Germany.

Portugal vs Belgium 1-3 (25-21, 21-25, 18-25, 18-25)

The match between Portugal and Belgium was a very different story. The hosts started better, putting pressure with the service and the attack to win the first set. However, Belgium, fixing the problems they had shown earlier in the match, made the size and physical prowess of their players count. “We started the game well, putting much pressure, and the victory in the first set was the result of that. Afterwards, that pressure was not applied as effectively, we made mistakes and Belgium started to feel more comfortable and to win more and more confidence,” highlighted Diogo Rosa, the coach of the home team. Rafael Pinto, with 17 points, was the best scorer, followed by the Belgians Eliot De Vleeschhauwer and Berre Van Looveren, with 16 each.

Italy vs The Netherlands 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-15)

Italy and the Netherlands closed the first competition day, and the Italians showed why they are considered the event pre-favourites, immediately taking over the leadership of Pool B. They were solid in the block and very strong in attack, and they showed why they dominated the last edition of continental age-group competitions. The victory against the Dutch by the maximum margin takes them straight to the top of the charts.