Italy will take an important step in their preparation for the third week of the Volleyball Nations League with a friendly match against Argentina in Trento this evening. This test will be the first for the season with the national team for four of the "Azzurri's" key players, who joined the preparations later.
Head coach Ferdinando De Giorgi will be able to use captain Simone Giannelli, opposite Yury Romano, middle blocker Roberto Russo, and libero Fabio Balaso for the first time this summer. The four joined the national team's camp, and the friendly against Argentina will be their first opportunity for playing minutes.
The Italian Federation explained that the match will help De Giorgi assess the current condition of the returning national team players, as well as the readiness of the entire squad before the decisive third week of the Volleyball Nations League.
Yesterday, Italy and Argentina held an open joint training session in Cavalese, and this evening they will meet at the BTS Arena in Trento.
The main goal for the Italians is a successful performance at the tournament in Osaka (July 1519), which will determine the participants in the final tournament of the Volleyball Nations League in Ningbo (China) from July 29 to August 2.

photo: Nikolay Varadinov