Liebherr European Championships
In the eve of the match of the qualifications for the European football championships Romania vs. Spain Romania’s Women’s team beat Spain at he LIEBHERR European Championships in Nantes. Straight after victory and their qualification to the Round of 8 in France girls sent the video message home to support football players; it will be played before the match at the stadium in Bucharest.
They reached the quarterfinal without loosing singles match in the duels against Spain and Slovakia. Today Bernadette SZOCS overcame Galia DVORAK.
“My match was not an easy one but I was prepared very well for my adversary as I knew against whom I will have to play. We are really happy with our performance today and this victory certainly gave us more confidence for our next game ” said SZOCS.
Elizabeta SAMARA overcame Maria XIAO: “It was the first time that I played against her and playing the first game against someone you don’t know is always very hard. But I could adapt to her game and in the last game I was always leading and I knew that I can win. So I would say that I was pretty confident during the whole game which helped me a lot to achieve a victory.”
Daniela MONTEIRO DODEAN beat ZHANG Huan: “She is palyer who risk a lot. Esspecially in the last game she played at the edge. I was just trying to play safely all the time and I know that I have to keep focus if I want to win a game. Generally I think it was a just a good start and we are looking forward to our next game. We are here for more.”
Germany joined Romania in knock out phase after victory over Italy. HAN Ying beat Debora VIVARELLI Petrissa SOLJA overcame Giorgia PICCOLIN.
“In the beginning of the game I have made it hard for myself but fortunately I regained the right rhythm. It also was my first match at the European Championships and you always need sometime to find your rhythm and to get used to the new game conditions. Generally I am happy with my performance today and of course with the result . Tomorrow is a new day and Portugal is a really strong team so we will have to play even better and improve ourselves but I stay positive that we can win tomorrow ” said SOLJA.
Nina MITTELHAM beat Jamila LAURENTI: “There is always a certain tension during a game and you always want to win of course. My match today wasn’t an easy one but I am happy with my performance and with the performance of the team. We won 3 :0 today and I also stay positive that we can win the game tomorrow if we keep calm and stay concentrated. The team of Portugal is a really strong team but together we can do it ” added MITTELHAM.
Portugal reached the quarterfinal of the Men’s Teams Event after solid performance against Greece. Marcos FREITAS showed n o weak spots against Panagiotis GIONIS.
“Every match is important . Everyone of us played very well. For me the most important was to stay calm and to always be patient. I did not play against him for a very long time but as I started the game pretty well I gained confidence and could finally win this match for the team ” said FREITAS.
Joao MONTEIRO had answer to all Kalinikos KREANGA’S attacks and Tiago APOLONIA did not allow Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS to prolong match any further.
“All together we played very good and the 2 :0 lead helped me to become more confident in my own game. I hope that we will continue like that in our following match ” said APOLONIA
Germany’s win against Russia could look easy if we overlook a little “hick up” in the middle when Dimitrij OVTCHAROV was two games to null in reverse against Alexander SHIBAEV.
“The first two games against SHIBAEV were really hard for me but then I managed to overcome this first hard phase of the game I gained more confidence and became better with each rally. But beside that the most important is that the team won and that we are qualified for the next round. I must say I had to play against someone who knew how to play against me how to react to my serves and who played very safely and confidently during the whole game ” explained OVTCHAROV and added:”The team of Slovenia have really motivated and strong players so I’d say it is a pretty tough drawing. They are all in a good shape but we are too!”
Timo BOLL overcame Kirill SKACHKOV in four games and by same margin Vladimir SIDORENKO lost to Patrick FRANZISKA.
“Actually the game was how we have expected it to be. It is totally normal that it can be more stressful sometimes but we are happy that we won 3 :0 even if sometimes it was a bit closer then we thought it would be. All of our adversaries played very good very safe and they knew how to react to our game. But in moments like this you just have to force yourself to push yourself to your limits and to concentrate 100 percent ” said Timo BOLL.
FRANZISKA added: ” I know the slovenian team very well because they all exercise in my club in Saarbrücken and all I can say is that all of them are young motivated players and that it won’t be easy to win . They are a team of fighters so we will have to fight back.”
