Volleyball – Ligue A (1st day): Spacer’s Toulouse, last vintage and first cries!
This Thursday evening, at home against Cambrai, the Toulouse “new look” have a championship within which they will have to play a role and finally reach the play-offs.
Ambitious goals
In the wake of their new president, Bruno Sola, the Toulouse Spacer’s have not hidden their ambition: to participate in the play-offs of an increasingly dense League A. “We cannot have any other objective than that” insists Stéphane Sapinart, Toulouse coach. If his men do not box in the same category as Tours, Montpellier, Chaumont or Cannes, to name only the main favorites, a place among the first eight still seems to be in their strings provided they tick all the boxes. To invite oneself to the underdog table, which the Spacer’s have been eyeing desperately for five years, “it will be necessary to be constant, regular, and to have a little success, in particular by avoiding injuries” warns Sapinart.
A renewed workforce
Apart from captain Gijs Jorna, the young central Oskar Madsen and the talisman Nicolas Burel, the Toulouse squad has nothing to do with that of last season. The nugget Théo Faure left for Montpellier, Toulouse bet big on the young Brazilian pointy Daniel Calgliari (22 years), revelation of last season in… Cambrai. The new canulousain, whose performance will largely condition his family’s season, will be surrounded by two compatriots who are experienced in League A games: the passer Veloso and the central Sené. Argentinian libero Facundo Santucci, after a successful stint between 2013 and 2016 is back in a club that also scored on two young prospects: Joachim Panou (France A ‘) and Antoine Pothron (U20). The central Kevin Kaba completes a workforce “very interesting” considers Sapinart. “We have character and something to do well” wants to believe the coach.
A calendar to improve
Promoted to League A and a semi-finalist in the wake, Cambrai was the big surprise of last season. If its workforce has also evolved, the new faces (Ropret, Tupchii, Truhtchev, Osoria) look proudly. “It’s a great team, but if we want to meet our objectives, it is a team that we must put behind us” says Sapinart all the same. To ideally launch this new adventure, the schedule offered to Toulouse residents two first home games with the reception of Tourcoing in eight days. It looks like a great opportunity to mark your territory and race in the leading pack. “It’s up to us to make sure that goes well” smiles the technician. On your marks…