Looks like the South.
The French volleyball team, trained by an Italian, Andrea Giani, who speaks in his own language to a group the overwhelming majority of which have played or evolve in Italy, has in certain aspects false airs of "
Nazionale
", his opponent on Wednesday (5:30 p.m.) in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Ljubljana.
Andrea Giani promised it.
He will very soon speak the language of Molière, which he understands better and better, and will take French lessons "
every day
on returning to Modena as soon as the competition is over.
But in the meantime, the former legend of Italian volleyball, record holder for the number of caps with the selection (474 between 1988 and 2005), triple world champion (1990 to 1998), communicates in his native language with French players.
Question of ease and speed, he who was appointed after the surprise resignation at the end of March of the Brazilian Bernardinho for personal reasons.
“
Most of us have played, are playing or are going to play in Italy.
The seven holders, in addition, all understand Italian so he can give information more quickly (in match)
”, explains captain Benjamin Toniutti.
Of the 14 players selected for the World Cup, only the substitutes Antoine Diez, Quentin Jouffroy and Médéric Henry have never played in "
SuperLega
".
Who welcomed last season Earvin Ngapeth (Modena), Barthélémy Chinenyeze (Milan, Civitanova in 2022-2023), Jean Patry (Milan) and Antoine Brizard (Piacenza).
In his luggage, Giani, 52 years old and who had under his command several Blues in Milan and Modena, took the assistant Roberto Ciamarra and brought several trademarks of Italian volleyball: a dose of rigor, a more advanced use of statistics and a particular focus on service, a sector in which Giani wants to see the Blues take more risks.
"
We train a lot, a lot more
," says Ngapeth.
In particular on their putting into play.
Being aggressive on serve is a hallmark of the Italian championship.
We tried to make the players understand that this is an important sector that needs to be worked on
, ”explains Roberto Ciamarra.
Italy, the country of volleyball statistics
The statistics, they are used more than with Laurent Tillie, the coach of the Olympic title last summer, “
who said that he did not necessarily understand everything
”, notes Antoine Brizard.
Even if Giani goes "
much less far
" in their use than some of his compatriots, continues Brizard.
“
It's true that Italy has this image of the country of statistics (in volleyball).
Already, the software used is Italian, and the first statistician scouts were Italian
” confirms Paolo Perronne, the statistician... Italian for several years of the Blues.
The latter have progressed, and mechanically with the France team, by confronting each other at the highest level on a daily basis, in Italy and Poland, the two references.
"
It is from the moment when 80% of the players left for the big leagues abroad that our results started to take off.
We made a huge leap,
” confirms Ngapeth.
“
In Italy, things are going stronger, higher, faster.
There are teams as strong as a national team.
We can't drop any game every weekend.
And we work a lot tactically
,” adds Chinenyeze.
They are going to want a nice revenge
Barthelemy Chinenyeze
Wednesday's meeting against the Italian European champions in title therefore necessarily has a special flavor.
“
We could see when we played them at home in July in the League of Nations
(victory in the semi-finals in Bologna 3-0)
, we had our teeth out!
notes Ngapeth.
"
They're going to want a nice revenge
", predicts Chinenyeze, who anticipates the chambers to come when returning to Italy.
And Giani, what does he think of this new reunion with his native country, already faced as coach of Slovenia and Germany?
“
No matter the opponent, you have to win.
Once the match has started, we don't think about it anymore
“, he first replied on Tuesday.
Relaunched on what he felt when hearing the Italian anthem in the opposite camp, he was more talkative: "
It's complicated to explain, it's something you feel from the inside .
It does something.
»
