Brilliant battle to open Round Six
 June
28, 2005 – Two teams needing two
victories to claim a ticket to the Final
Round. No one could have written a
better script, not only for this match
but for this group, with Cuba and France
in the same predicament.
When looking at this contest one has to
fancy Bulgaria’s chances, considering
they’re playing at home, which is
traditionally a cauldron of intensity
often feared by visiting teams. But when
seeing eight-time World League champions
and last year’s silver medallists Italy
will line up on the other side of the
net, one has to say, the only thing
guaranteed is a contest of the highest
order.
These two teams split their matches when
they played in Italy in Week Three with
both sides claiming a 3-2 victory. In
fact, Italy have only done the double
any one weekend once and Bulgaria have
only lost two weekend matches by the
same frequency.
World number 13 against world number two.
Something tells you Gianpaolo Montali
has something up his sleeve to sneak
into the finals at the last moment. It
would be akin to a sprinter leaning
forward to break the tape first. Either
way, the main thing is Italy could
finish outside of the top four in World
League history.
Bulgaria and Italy start the festivities
this weekend when they play the first of
their two matches in Varna at 15:00 GMT
(18:00 local time) on Friday. The second
match is pencilled in for Sunday at
17:30 GMT (20:30 local time). |
Competition Formula