Thrilling win for Turkey, Czech Republic still unbeaten in #EuroLeagueM

On Wednesday the national teams of Latvia and the Czech Republic met in the match of Pool C in the #EuroLeagueM. It was an "easy" one for the Czechs who won 0-3 (16-25, 15-25, 18-25).

In the first set, the Czechs went into the fast lead with 2-5 which only continued. The Latvians couldn’t find the solutions and were already behind with 10-17 and they needed to break down the Czech's amazing blocks and aces (five in the first set). It only got harder for them and at 16 points Latvians stopped scoring which lead the Czechs to the 16-25 win in the first set.

The national team of the Czech Republic continued with their domination in the second set. They broke down the Latvians already at 1-7 and the fightness only got bigger. At 12-21 it was visible to who this set is going to go which they finished with 15-25. This shouldn’t be a surprise since the Czechs showed their amazing competence in the last year’s edition of this when they’ve won 3-0 against the reigning champions of France.

In the third and last set, Latvians showed real competitiveness on the court but it wasn’t enough to secure them a first win in the set. They tried to fight against strong opponents with 4-6 and 7-10 but it wasn’t possible to get back in the game afterward. With 17 winning spikes and 18-25 in the third set, the Czechs secured a clear 0-3 win over the Latvians.

The third leg of this competition is now completed and first in the Pool B is the Czech Republic with nine points, in the second place is Estonia with five points, in third Belgium with three points, and in fourth and last place is Latvia with one point.

The match between the national teams of Portugal and Turkey in Pool A was also played on Wednesday. This was for sure a tough match for Portugal since they competed against reigning champions Turkey, who finished with the gold not only in 2021 but in 2019 as well. In the thrilling ending, it was Turkey who took a 1:3 win (21-25, 25-21, 17-25, 24-26).

It started off as a point-by-point set and the team Portugal showed that they are for a reason in the Golden League company. But Turkey managed to separate from the Portuguese team (from 13-15 to 13-19) and they managed to make a nice advantage. Portugal tried to break through the attack of Turkey but with four aces from the Turkish side it was impossible and the set went to Turkey with 21-25.

But already in the second set, the team Portugal showed why they are in the elite company. They were on top of their game and they managed to take an important win in the second set. The Portuguese team balanced through the whole set and was always keeping up with the Turkish team. They had an early head start with 5-3 and it only continued to grow up until the very end when they scored for 25-21 and Portugal has won the second set.

The third set was a tough one for Portugal. They were at a 1-5 score on the board when their head coach, João José Miguel, called for a time-out but it only got worse. They were at 1-7 and the coach was forced to call for another time-out. They started scoring but it just wasn’t enough this time and the set ended with 17-25 in favor of the Turkish team.

The fourth set was a real thriller for both teams. Turkey was behind by five points and they needed this set to already secure the win. They managed to get back up but Portugal didn't let them off that easily. Both teams were still in the game and they started to play completely point-by-point. In the end, Turkey secured a new win with 24-26 in the last set.

The situation in Pool A is as follows: Turkey is first with six points, Portugal is second with three points and Slovakia is last with zero points.