Julio Velasco knows the Piacenza environment well, even though twenty years have passed since his adventure in red and white which ended with the Scudetto (and Cev Cup) final. Copra didn’t play at PalabancaSport at the time, but the Argentine coach arrived there several times as an opponent.
«Piacenza is now a historic square, it welcomed us well and it was beautiful. Many people came and the climate, both today and yesterday in Novara, was interesting” explains the Italian coach.
Just before he had talked about the match he won against Sweden and how he managed his girls in view of the VNL. «We trained both yesterday and this morning, but today we rested some girls who limited themselves to physical preparation in the weight room. Now I have clearer ideas because the game is always different from training, there is a certain stress when you wear the national team shirt.”
Now the focus is on Poland, a high-level opponent.
«In fact, Poland is a completely different matter, we hope to play a good match. We rest until Saturday then we start preparing again for Tuesday’s match.”
What’s the weather?
«Very good, even if the weather is what it is. We had two teams in the Champions League final, on the one hand it was fortunate, on the other it was unfortunate because the protagonists will resume training from Monday and will join for the trip to China. Poland, on the other hand, had more time, that’s the situation.”
What will next week’s organization be like?
«The players from Vero Volley and Conegliano remain in Italy plus the girls who have trained since 8 April but were excluded with the arrival of the girls from Novara. Bernardi, Cichello and the physical trainer will remain with them, while Barbolini and I will go to Turkey.”
