Hot trip to Posillipo for the Swimming Catania which closes the Relegation Round of the championship A1 series of men’s water polo with the aim of winning and thinking about the play outs of salvation.
The match in Campania will be played on Saturday 20 April at 4.30pm and will provide important points for the play-offs to avoid the A2 series. THE red and blue, fresh from the beautiful victory in Genoa, want to give an encore and prepare as best as possible for the final act of a difficult season. The Etna team coached by Giuseppe Dato can no longer reach direct salvation and therefore aim to overtake Astra Roma Nuoto playing – at the same time – in Salerno against a team equally hungry for points. This would mean having a less difficult pairing on paper.
It won’t be easy though. Posillipo is always a highly respectable opponent who must make the last effort to achieve the direct result. The Campanians have 23 points while Astra has 21. But the Rossazzurri will certainly want to return the “favour” to the Neapolitans who in the match of the first phase which was played at the end of November beat Scuderi in the final by 10-11 with a goal just over a minute from the end of Somma in superiority.
Given, “With Posillipo we will test our condition”
These are the words of coach Giuseppe Dato on the eve of the match: “Before the decisive phase of the play outs, another important test against Posillipo which will define our ranking and our physical and mental condition. We will go to Naples to try to confirm the good feelings we had against Quinto and to score points, aware of the difficulties we will encounter but focused on this end of the season which we would like to crown with the certainty of being able to play in the top category again”.
Leonardi, “It will be important to score points in Naples, I’m confident”
Sports director Giuseppe Leonardi underlines: “We’re going to Naples to play the last match of the relegation group against Posillipo. This meeting will establish the positions for the match pairings that will decide the team that will go to A2 together with Camogli. It is important to obtain points to improve our current ranking as we cannot mathematically achieve direct salvation. We are aiming for a position that allows us to play the eventual winner at home in the direct elimination matches. The team is coming off a good training period, we are all aware that the most important moment of the season is about to arrive. I am confident because I see a group ready and determined to do their part to try to reach the goal of salvation”.
Serie A1 Relegation Round
Saturday 20 April
- Posillipo-Swimming Catania at 4.30pm
- Roma Vis Nova-Camogli at 4.30pm
- Rare Nantes Salerno-Astra Roma Swimming at 4.30pm.
Rest Genoa Quinto
Classification
Genoa Fifth 29 points; Posillipo 23; Astra Swimming 21; Swimming Catania 19; Rare Nantes Salerno 16; Rome Vis Nova 14; Camogli 1.
Verdicts
Genova Fifth in the play offs for fifth-eighth place; Camogli relegated to Serie A2.
