Portugal poised to contest #EuroVolleyU17M qualifier on home soil
News
The U17 men’s national team of Portugal is already in Paredes, where the hosts will compete in Pool A of the second-round qualifiers for this year’s #EuroVolleyU17M, a competition organised by the Portuguese Volleyball Federation later this week (April 21-23) in the “Multiusos de Paredes” hall, an arena inaugurated in 2021.
Under the technical lead of coach Diogo Rosa, Portugal will make its debut on April 21 against Finland (8:00 pm), right after the matchup between Hungary and Türkiye (5:00 pm), matches that can be followed live on the Portuguese Volleyball Federation’s own channel Volei TV and on the CEV digital channels too.
After facing in the 1st round traditionally powerful teams such as France, Germany, or Belgium, what are Portugal’s objectives in this crucial phase of the competition?
Diogo Rosa“We reached this stage after successfully achieving our goal in the 1st Round [WEVZA Tournament]. What we achieved in Italy in January brought us here, but it does not give us much more than that. Now we have a competition starting from scratch, which we shall play at maximum strength to aim for a ticket to the European Championship."
Head coach of Portugal
Portugal will face, successively, and in this order, Finland, Hungary, and Türkiye. Regarding any pre-favourites, the Portuguese head coach does not point the finger at anyone: “Türkiye leads in terms of the CEV Ranking and often has very competitive teams; however, Finland was the national team with the best result in the 1st Round, as they finished second in the Balkan qualifier – where Türkiye competes – despite not having faced each other. Thus, we have three good opponents, and we will prepare equally for all of them.”
On whether the fact of playing in front of the home audience can serve as a catalyst for the performances of the national team, Diogo Rosa acknowledges: “We are happy to play at home, something we hope to be able to use to our advantage. We want to deliver a very competitive performance and having our audience in the stands will only give us even more motivation. Therefore, I appeal, on behalf of the entire group, to all lovers of the sport to come to Paredes to support us in these three ‘finals’.”
The 1st and 2nd ranked teams of the five pools, as well as the 3rd best ranked across all groups qualify for the final phase of the U17 European Championship to be held in Podgorica, Montenegro, between 19 and 30 July 2023.