Staying focused, Geramany won with Finland supported by thousands of their fans
Katowice, Poland, September 6, 2014- Germany claimed the second ticket to the next round of Pool B at the 2014 FIVB Men's World Championship after their 3-1 (25-20, 19-25, 26-24, 25-19) victory over Finland at Spodek Hall in Katowice, Poland on Saturday.
About 6000 of Finnish fans didn't manage to push their team to stop Germany in this long battle.
With four-sets victory, Germany turned their won-loss ratio to 3-1 and gaining three more points, they’re promoted to the second round with one match ahead in the first round.
As the game was very balanced almost throughout the whole match, they were details which decided the final score. Being ahead in blocks and defence, Germany managed to claim their victory.
Key points:
• Denys Kaliberda (17 points) followed by Marcus Böhme (15 points) led Germany's scorers.
• Olli-Pekka Ojansivu with 18 points was the top scorer in Finland team.
• Germany scored 7 points with serves against 3 points scored by Finland.
• György Grozer is placed third among best servers and spikers so far.
• Marcus Böhme occupies the third place in block statistics.
Finland opened the first set with fine triple block, followed by German’s Marcus Böhme stopping Finnish spike. Jumping out to leading, Germany were 8-5 ahead at the first technical timeout. Trying to catch up, Finland with Eemi Tervaportti, Matti Oivanen and Olli Kunnari formed another efficient triple block in the first set, decreasing Germany’s leading. However, staying focused Germany with György Grozer’s kill keeping 12-7 ahead, preventing Finland from regaining touch. Olli-Pekka Ojansivu’s out serve let Germany leading 16-10 during the second technical timeout. However, Finland tried their best and after some fine spikes and aggressively played serves, they come closer at 21-10 and forced Germany’s coach to call a timeout. After an out spike of Antti Siltala, Germany finally won the first set 25-20.
Returning into the game, Finland managed to run 4-0 ahead at the beginning of the second set. Playing under pressure, Germany made some spike mistakes, what only helped Finland to increase their leading to 6-1. However, Germany didn’t surrender so quickly and scored few points before the first technical timeout (8-5). Aggressive serves by Mikko Oivanen and kills by Jukka Lehtonen pushed Finland forward throughout next actions. After a smart dink by Olli Kunnari, Finland was 16-11 ahead at the second technical timeout. Adding a triple block, a team coached by Tuomas Sammelvuo seemed to fully control the game and they romped into a 25-19 victory after a huge spike displayed by Mikko Oivanen.
After balanced beginning of the third set, Finland run out 6-4 ahead. After a left-wing spike by Olli Kunnari, Finnish leading increased to two points (7-5). Catching up, Germany managed to take touch back and went 11-10 ahead after Marcus Böhme’s kill. Ace displayed by Denys Kaliberda helped Germany with increasing their leading to 15-13. However, it didn’t break supported by thousands of their fans Finland and after Olli-Pekka Ojansivu’s huge spike, they caught up at 16-16. Playing point by point the set finished 26-24 with an ace displayed by György Grozer.
Coming back to the court very focused, both teams did their best to take some advantage. After a fine block by Grozer and Günthör, Germany run 7-5 ahead. This two points leading increased to four points (13-9) with Marcus Böhme spike and an efficient serve. An effective Germany’s triple blocked push them 16-12 ahead, putting a pressure on Finland. Germany made their leading grow and with the fine spikes of Grozer, they finished the fourth set 25-19.