The German volleyball players start the intermediate round of the World Cup with a big question mark. How much is this team really? National coach Vital Heynen would of course like to know that himself.
“Let’s see if we can make steps forward there,” said the Belgian before his team’s brilliant start in the intermediate round on Tuesday (7:00 p.m.) against Turkey. For Heynen, this game is also a reunion with his former colleague as German national coach. Because the Italian Giovanni Guidetti once looked after the German women, while Heynen coached the German men.
But that is nothing more than a marginal aspect. The German volleyball players get the next big chunk in the Turkish EM third. Then in Lodz on Wednesday (3:00 p.m.) Thailand will be waiting, on Friday (7:00 p.m.) the Dominican Republic and at the end of World Cup phase two on Saturday (8:30 p.m.) Poland.
heavy mortgage
After all, the Germans achieved their first goal by surviving the preliminary round. However, they start the next phase with a heavy mortgage. After the opening wins against Bulgaria (3:1) and Kazakhstan (3:0) and three defeats in a row against Olympic champions USA (0:3), defending champions Serbia (0:3) and most recently Canada (2:3), Heynen’s team is up to date Table bottom of Pool F. Only the top four teams of both seasons make it to the quarter-finals.
Above all, the defeat against Canada rankles the Germans. They were already leading 2-0 before they collapsed. “We overran them a bit in the first set,” said captain and winger Jennifer Janiska of the furious German start, in which Lina Alsmeier and Hanna Orthmann stood out with 16 points each. “Then we may have lost a bit of strength.”
A World Cup is always a test of strength. After all, the volleyball players are challenged at the highest level within a few days, as if on an assembly line. “It’s also down to strength, it’s exhausting,” said Janiska about the wear and tear at a final round.
Heynen wants to see the development of his variable team, which still has to be found after the exceptional player Louisa Lippmann moved to the sand. After all, the long-term goal is the Olympics in Paris in 2024. Until then, however, one or two more wins at the World Cup would still be very valuable.