Thrilling Golden #EuroLeagueM evening with new wins for the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Croatia

On Saturday the national teams of the Czech Republic and Latvia met in the match of Pool C of the Golden #EuroLeague. It was an "easy" win for the Czechs with 3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-20).

The first set started off with the complete advantage of the Czechs who already have won all their matches so far and were hungry for more. The first separation happened at 8-6 when they had a six points series and got to 14-6. Latvia’s head coach, Michal Gogol, called for a much-needed time-out but his team still couldn’t break through Czech’s blocks and spikes. Soon the Czechs got to 21-11 and it was visible that this set already has a winner.

With a 4-0 lead for the Czechs in the second set, it already seemed like an easy one. But with long rallies, monster blocks, and amazing spikes, Latvians showed that they are not an easy team to beat. Soon they compensated for the difference and got to 8-8 and from that point on it was an equal game. Still, they were missing that little something. The second set was also won by the Czechs by 25-22.

Latvians realized that they could dominate in the next set and they took a lead at 10-12. It seemed as if the Czechs lost a little bit of energy from all the long rallies. But they proved us wrong since they took a 25-20 win in the third set and with that won the whole match!

The situation in Pool C is as follows: the Czech Republic is first with 12 points, in second place is Estonia with five points, in third is Belgium with three points, and in last place is Latvia with one point.

Teams of Pool B also met on Saturday. At the same time, the national teams of Spain and Croatia but also Denmark and Ukraine played their Golden #EuroLeague matches. Ukraine stayed unbeatable with a 3:2 win over Denmark (20-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-23, 12-15) and Croatia scored a new win with a 3:2 win over Spain (18-25, 25-19, 25-19, 23-25, 12-15).

In the first set of the match between Denmark and Ukraine, the advantage was going to the Ukrainians since they are the first in their Pool and have won all the matches so far. The first set proved how well-skilled they are when it comes to monster blocks and winning spikes. At 9-10, Denmark was coming in closely but Ukrainians didn’t let that happen and soon they had six points advantage (9-15). After that, the national team of Ukraine was keeping Denmark at a distance and they couldn’t get close to them. The set finished with 20-25 for Ukraine.

An exciting and thrilling second set was guaranteed. Denmark started off equally with Ukraine at 4-4 but Danish players soon separated to 8-4 and then 12-7. Not even the advice from the Ukrainian coach could help their players because soon they were losing 20-14 which was the biggest difference in this set. In the end, Denmark took the set with 25-20.

The third set was completely taken over by Denmark already at 10-4. Ukraine had no idea how to stop the domination of its opponents. But soon the advantage of Denmark started to melt and Ukrainians got to 18-18. With that, they turned the whole set around and won it by 20-25.

The fourth set was equal on both fronts and was played point-by-point. Up until the very finish, it was not visible to whom this set is going to go. Denmark had a little bit of an advantage with two points (21-19) and that proved to be an important two points in order to win this set and to still stay in the game of winning this match. Denmark in the end took the win in this set with 25-23.

In another match played at the same time Croatia won over Spain with 3:2.

The first set started off the same as in the match between Denmark and Ukraine. Croatia was in the led and had an early start with 7-9 but soon managed to separate to 7-15 with eight points of advance. Spaniards were trying to come close to them but with their blocks, it just wasn’t possible. The advantage was still there and the Croatians won the set by 18-25.

The second set was also similar to the one in the other match in this Pool. It started off equally with 5-5 but Spaniards took the matters into their own hands and went ahead to 12-8. Croatians were without idea in the defense and Spaniards soon flew to six points advantage (18-12) and even seven points advantage (20-13). Croatians couldn’t turn around this set and they’ve lost it with 25-19.

It wasn’t a good start to the third set for Croatians. They started off with a lead of 2-5 but the lead soon started to melt and Spaniards got close on them but soon turned the match around with their 7-5 lead. Spain even had six points advantage (19-13) and there was no going back for Croatians who have lost the set by 25-19.

The fourth set was going completely on the side of Croatia since they were leading in the whole set. It was visible that they wanted this win and to still stay in the match. They separated from the Spaniards at 11-16 and was just a matter of time until they close this set which they did at 23-25. In the fifth set, it was visible how both teams want this win but there can only be one winner. And this time it was Croatia with 12-15!

The situation in the Pool B is as follows: Ukraine is first with 16 points, Croatia is in second place with eight points, Spain is in third place with three points and fourth is Denmark with also three points.