(ANSA) - The triumph of the Italian men's volleyball team in the European championships this weekend was a victory for courage and passion, coach Gian Paolo Montali said on Monday.
Speaking the day after Italy won its second European title under his leadership, Montali admitted his team had plumbed the depths - both technically and psychologically - during the final in Rome against Russia.
After winning the first set thanks to admirable control and skill, the Azzurri then collapsed and gave the next two sets to Russia. Every Russian tactic worked and Italy suddenly appeared incapable of even the simplest move.
"They had to sink right down to the bottom before they could climb up again," Montali said. "But we showed our courage and our passion." The coach, who came to the Italy bench in 2003, refused
to reveal exactly what he said to players at the end of the miserable third set. Whatever it was, it fired them up for a remarkable comeback.
"I was good at getting them over the hump and making them calm down," Montali said. "It's no good shouting at people. When things get difficult you have to know how to talk to them, give advice and help them recover their determination."
With quiet efficiency, the six players in blue began once again to act as a team. Their technique returned and they managed to fend off the Russian attacks. After a while, they started mounting attacks themselves and winning.
Italy won the final two sets 25-19 and 15-10, overcoming the only team it had lost to in the preceding rounds.
Montali, 45, fired off a few barbs at critics who wrote his young team off after it failed to win a medal in the World League tournament earlier this year. After seeing Italy win five European titles, three world championship titles and an Olympic silver medal (2004) in the last 15 years, fans and pundits had come to expect great things.
Montali said he knew that the new group he had created to defend the 2003 European title just needed to gel properly and then it too would be capable of beating anyone. So last month he took the squad to a training camp in the northern city of Trento and reportedly ran them into the ground as he tried to forge a real team from the range of talents at his disposal.
"In Trento I know I seemed like a slave driver. We worked like mad and in the evening the lads hardly had the energy to breathe. But I always say, hard work pays off in the end."
Montali said he was now looking ahead to the world championships next year, when he was confident more "great things" were possible. He refused to be drawn on the team's chances at the
Olympics in 2008. Olympic gold is the only major prize Italy's men have failed to pick up.
