From our special correspondent in Zagreb
Mladost Zagreb
Tours
There is little chance that the Mladost Zagreb roster will speak much to Touraine supporters, even the most loyal of Grenon. Except, for the most advanced, the passer Mario Mocic, the most experienced of the Croatian squad, who worked in Qatar and… in Orange, in League B during the 2014-2015 season. Or the Greek receiver-attacker Chandrinos who played last year for Olympiakos.
Twenty-one years average age
It is therefore interesting to stop with Thomas Royer, one of Marcelo Fronckowiak's two assistants, on this team which hosts, this Thursday, December 5, the Tours Volley-Ball in the first leg of the round of 16 of the CEV Cup . A club that has won six of the last seven Croatian championships, and is “a large volleyball structure, one of the former great training clubs from the time of Yugoslavia”.
A formative fiber that sticks well to this Mladost team, to say the least, ” youth “ in Serbo-Croatian, and which is not eroding, if we consider that the squad lined up this Thursday has an average age of 21 years! Not to mention that Radovan Gacic, who is coaching Mladost this season, was also at the head of a young Ljubljana team last year…
Two key players, and three left-handers
“In the construction of the team, it’s quite similar to Ljubljana last yearspecifies Thomas Royer. But it's “old school”, that is to say it's based on two players: Chandrinos and the sharp Montenegrin Jovovic, who are powerful players and are heavily fed with balls. »
So two players to target? “If we master them, we will have done a good part of the work”considers Thomas Royer who takes care to add: “They are the kind of team that is not difficult to read, but very difficult to contain. » With among other particularities, the fact of having three left-handers, namely the central Peric and Jovovic, but also the Austrian receiver-attacker Ecker. And to be very effective in the block. “It's a physically impactful team, it crushes everyone in the championship. »
-“The confidence of winning teams”
With in this case eight victories in as many days. On the other hand, in the Mevza championship – this Central European competition which this season brings together Ljubljana, Maribor (Slovenia), Osijek, Zagreb (Croatia), Aich (Austria) and Myjava (Slovakia) – Maldost conceded once, against Maribor ( 1-3). “Zagreb is one of those teams that are used to winning in the league and therefore have the confidence of teams that win, points out Thomas Royer again. And to think that we are going to score 25-15 three times without playing would be a mistake. »
A mistake that TVB does not intend to make this Thursday during this first leg.
This Thursday, December 5, at 7:30 p.m.
“This Zagreb team scores twice as many points on blocking as on serving. »
De Marcelo Fronckowiakthe Touraine coach, who does not, by chance, highlight this statistic which says, of course, the physical presence of the Croatian collective but also “its ability to place its serve well and then place its block well”.
