France coach Laurent Tillie said that their determination was key to their victory
Bydgoszcz, Poland, September 10, 2014 – France took a 3-1 victory over Argentina in the opening Pool E match at the Luczniczka Hall in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship on Wednesday.
France coach Laurent Tillie: “Our determination was the key factor to this victory. The change in the players during the game was also a good decision, when Nicolas Marechal entered the court; our setter immediately adjusted the play to his style. We were very lucky to win the third set, we had some good moments to end it but we did not use them. Normally, if you don’t make use of these opportunities, you lose. This time we had more luck and got the victory.”
France captain Benjami Toniutti: “If we want to win every game, we have to play better. It was not an easy game. Argentina played a lot of middle block to which we can’t find any solution. In the near future, we have to make less mistakes than we did in this match, especially on service.”
Argentina coach Julio Velasco: “The key set was the first one when France had a problem with their attack but we did not change our defence, which obviously was our tactical mistake. We should have used this opportunity but our counter-attack was not as successful as it should be. France used six tips and won some points, we were not able to do the same.
“I am not lucky because the next matches will be against Iran and Italy, and I used to work for these countries as a coach. I left Iran only because I was called to coach my homeland Argentina. I have a lot of friends from these countries and I still feel a bond with them. However, tomorrow they will be my opponents.”
Argentina captain Javier Filardi: “We played well during the first two sets, the other two were unfortunately not the best, we could have played it better though. During the first set, we could not make use of some very important balls, unlike the French team who were able to use them to their advantage.”