(From left to right) Bulgaria captain Todor Aleksiev and coach Plamen Konstantinov, and Canada coach Glenn Hoag and captain Frederic Winters
Gdansk, Poland, September 3, 2014 - Canada managed to get an excellent game from Gavin Schmitt even though the star is ailing from some injuries, in the tough five-setter with Bulgaria in Pool C of the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship at the Ergo Arena on Wednesday.
Bulgaria captain Todor Aleksiev: “We wanted to close the game in four sets, but Canada did not lose the faith in winning. The most important was that they fought back. I can only hope to play better in the next match.”
Bulgaria coach Plamen Konstantinov: “In the beginning we seemed in control of the game but then the Canadians came back and the key moment was the fourth set. Canada attacked well against us and they had a difficult serve and we could not do anything about it. We were trying to close the match but after having a three-point lead, we lost four points in a row. We were not able to get hold of ourselves. I think in the fifth set, we just lost mentally. We did not have enough time to make a comeback and my players were probably thinking about their loss in the previous set. I saw it on their faces after the fourth set and that was definitely a critical moment for my team. They all seemed to lose faith in winning the match. We have to try eliminating our faults and we are just looking forward to the upcoming matches.”
Canada captain Frederic Winters: “Our team has been working really hard and we managed to come back strong in this World Championship. We experienced some failures during the World League and we had some mistakes to work on. Bulgaria did a great job today, but we were able to control their opposite, Tsvetan Sokolov, and perform some good serving. A win is a win, it does not matter against which team. We are obviously pleased with the result. I am proud of my team-mates. We have to fight now to score more points in order to advance to the second round.”
Canada coach Glenn Hoag: We are very happy about the result. Plamen is right that we won through the fourth set. We had a great start, but then we had some problems. We had to deal with the very strong Bulgaria serve. Our young setter was struggling and it is his first big tournament. Gavin had some problems because of some injuries but the most important thing is that he was able, together with his team-mates, to manage and show their skills as a team. I think that made us win this match. Now we have to stay focused and score the maximum amount of points to advance to the next round.”