While CVB 52 Haute-Marne and Saint-Nazaire play out their European future in the Champions League, next Wednesday, the two teams face each other directly, this Saturday, January 25 (8 p.m.), on the Atlantic coast… Just to get started in the atmosphere.
Finally, a bit of the Champions League is already coming to Saint-Nazaire, this Saturday, January 25. While the Nazairiens and the CVB 52 Haute-Marne prepare to compete in a crucial meeting in the most prestigious continental competition in the middle of next week, the two teams meet again in the championship this weekend.
And if the Loire-Atlantique team approaches this duel as it usually does in European opposition this season, the Cévebists would do well to be wary… Because it is indeed a group with two faces that the Haut-Marnais are facing. are preparing to face this Saturday. So attractive in this phase of the Champions League, the Nazaire club is nevertheless struggling to transpose its qualities into the domestic competition, which they won last season. An even more mysterious enigma for opponents, as CVB general manager Jiri Cerha explains.
“I don’t really have an explanation for this situation. The team changed a few players in the offseason as well as the coach. But one thing is certain: if the Nazairiens are capable of annoying their opponents in the Champions League, they are also, in theory, in the championship. »
Hence the distrust which animates the Haut-Marne leader when he goes to the Atlantic coast. There is no question of relying in particular on the ranking, neither up nor down for these two teams. “First or eleventh: at the moment it doesn't really matter, and doesn't represent much yet at this stage of the competition. » Even in a more enviable position, CVB 52 knows that it will have to fight hard not to return empty-handed from Loire-Atlantique. “We know that the Nazairian room is tricky for visitors, with an audience that pushes a lot. »
A more serene CVB
However, the CVB has however given some guarantees regarding its current quality of play, during its last performances. “Since December, the team has had some interesting performances. Despite a more sluggish start to the year with an incomplete group, we found, on our last outings, a realistic and, above all, confident collective. »
With convincing results which, according to Jiri Cerha, are the result above all of work that bears fruit. “Our team has progressed. She evolves with much more serenity because today she has certainty about her game. Our “block/defense” and counter-attack system is perfectly assimilated. The players have understood a lot of things, like our quality of service which does not depend only on “aces”, but on a real tactical approach. »
The fact remains that the two teams will not be able to help but keep, in the back of their minds, the extremely important match which is looming in a few days in the Champions League. A situation which could also influence this weekend’s meeting.
“I have no doubt about the total involvement of the players,” assures the Cévebiste general manager. “As for the staff of the two teams, perhaps there will be management regarding the physical state of the individuals in order to minimize the risks for the next meeting. It's a possibility. But the objective, as usual, remains to achieve victory. » Before fully immersing ourselves in the upcoming Champions League.
Laurent Génin
The teams
Saint-Nazaire VBA
1. Ewert, 2. Hallé, 3. Burel, 4. Spencer (cap.), 5. Ven der Ent, 6. Leon, 7. Fredureau, 8. Valefuaniu, 9. Poisson, 10. Varier, 12. Martins, 13. Ivanov, 14. Deveze (lib.), 15. Taramini, 17. Canham, 22. Henry. Coach : Fulvio Bertini.
CVB 52 Haute-Marne
1. Worsley (cap.), 2. Durand (lib.), 3. Holdaway, 4. Henno, 5. Lefaivre, 7. Suihkonen, 8. Diop, 9. Toledo, 10. Lietzke, 15. Polak, 16. Maase, 17. Pasteur, 19. Closter (lib.). Coach : Silvano Prandi.
The opponent: Saint-Nazaire has a status to assume and a rhythm to take
Difficult to decipher the current season of the reigning French champion: rather attractive in the Champions League with top-flight performances, Saint-Nazaire presents a completely different face in the Marmara Spikeligue. The club's manager, Gilles Gosselin, knows that his team can juggle all competitions, but there is still something to be done.
jhmquotidien: How do you explain this complicated first part of the regular season in the championship?
Gilles Gosselin (Saint-Nazaire manager): “It’s a complex season and we expected it a bit. We have many challenges to overcome, particularly with this historic first qualification for the club in the Champions League. This type of exercise, which is very dense in terms of the number of matches, cannot be understood so easily. If our journey on the European scene is rather interesting, we are aware that we must achieve better performances in the championship. We are clear about our ability to perform. We have a team with quality, as we proved in the European Cup. We now need to find the trigger in the Marmara Spikeleague. »
-jhmquotidien: Is it a mental problem?
GG: “Above all, I believe that it is the status of the team that has changed with this championship title. We are more expected by our opponents. A label that does not exist on the European level. I don't think it's really a mental problem. There is not necessarily any different pressure from one competition to another. This is above all a new situation for the club. But I remain convinced that we have the capacity to turn things around. »
jhmquotidien: Did the upheavals in the squad this summer contribute to these difficulties?
GG: “We certainly experienced some movements in the off-season, but we also retained a certain backbone. Other players arrived, some revealed themselves, like Henri Léon who knew how to seize his chance. »
jhmquotidien: How are you approaching this meeting against the CVB, while the two teams have an important match this week in the European Cup?
GG: “We know who we are going to face and the difficult task that awaits us. Even if we are companions in the Champions League, the CVB has for several seasons now been used to playing this type of season with such a dense schedule. They are currently the best team in the championship, as proven by the ranking and, as usual, they can rely on a quality squad, with rotations in all positions. Their latest performances against Lüneburg and Tourcoing prove their current dynamic. It's a European match and if we approach this meeting as we approach our European Cup matches, we might be able to shake them up. That’s our intention anyway. »
Collected by LG
The first leg
Chaumont beats Saint-Nazaire 3 sets to 0 (25-14, 26-24, 25-19)
Exempted during the previous meeting, it was after eleven days without competition that CVB 52 Haute-Marne returned to Saint-Nazaire, on November 2, for the 7th day of the championship. Nazairians handicapped by the absence of their central Cape Verdean, Helder Spencer, injured in the knee, for the occasion.
The latter also had great difficulty containing the first Cévebist attacks in the first set. If they can count on a certain quality of service to make an impression, in other gaming sectors, local domination is undeniable.
And as soon as CVB 52 regains control of the “service/reception” sector, the visitors can no longer keep up the pace, set in particular by a very good Jacob Pasteur at the end of the round: 25-14 in 20'.
At the start of the second act, CVB 52 somewhat lost control of the situation. The fault lies with the rebellious Nazairians who can count on the entry into play of their Canadian “pointy”, Canham, to regain a little more efficiency.
The visitors are in the lead, while the Haut-Marnais commit far too many unforced errors to hope to regain the reins of the game. If the CVB remains in the game, it owes it to the great entry into play of Cheikh Diop. But this cannot prevent Saint-Nazaire from obtaining four set points.
It was finally by a small miracle, instigated by the determined Jacob Pasteur, that the locals managed the incredible series of six points in a row to win the bet: 26-24 in 33'.
The blow is necessarily difficult to swallow for the Loire-Atlantique players, who immediately fall behind on the scoreboard at the start of the third set. A gap that the latter will never manage to fill, facing the Chaumontais determined to take advantage of this advantage until the end to shorten the debates: 25-19 in 23'.
The buzz of the week: an inhospitable room awaits the CVB
It has now been more than ten years since CVB 52 Haute-Marne last won the championship in the Saint-Nazaire venue. Its last victory in League A on the banks of the Atlantic dates back to November 22, 2014 (2-3).
Administratively relegated at the end of the 2014/2015 season, the Nazairiens then experienced long years of reconstruction, before returning to CVB 52 in their room, but in the Coupe de France, on March 28, 2022, for a cevébist success (2- 3) against the residents of League B at the time, who were going to return to the elite at the end of the current financial year. Since then, Silvano Prandi's men have
have always been dominated in Nazairian land.
