Warsaw, Poland, August 30, 2014 – Following his team’s 3-0 victory over Serbia in the opening match of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship, Poland captain Michal Winiarski admitted that the pressure on the host team was huge.
Poland captain Michal Winiarski: “I want to congratulate my friends, my teammates. We played really well tonight, almost perfectly. It was really a fantastic event and the moment we entered the stadium we experienced thousands of emotions. But once we started warming up, it all came back to normal. It is true that depending on the side of the court the wind changed, but at the end of the day the National Stadium proved to be lucky for us. We know it is just the beginning, but tonight we will celebrate a little bit.”
Poland head coach Stephane Antiga: “I am very happy with this result. It wasn't easy to play in a new place with so many spectators. But we played perfectly, especially in service and reception. I think it was a perfect scenario, but I think there is no such thing as a perfect volleyball match. We still can improve our counter-attack. The key to success was our mentality. As a player I had a chance to play at many great venues, but this experience was something more. I was calm from the beginning, because my players played very aggressively, especially in service. And if I saw the nerves were back, I called a timeout to calm down. The event was really amazing and I wish I could play in such conditions all the time.”
Serbia captain Dragan Stankovic: “I think we made too many errors, we served too softly. We didn't put pressure on the opponents even once, even though they played under a lot of pressure, because of the spectators – this might have been something to change the image of the play. We wanted to end every point too fast and that was our problem. We knew it was a historical event, but we wanted to concentrate on the match. I think this was our worst game and I hope we will play better in the next ones. We have to forget about it.”
Serbia head coach Igor Kovacevic: “It think it was our worst match ever. We couldn't find the solution to the Polish service. Now we have to forget this defeat and continue the tournament because in a few days we have another important game. My team shouldn't care whether they are playing in a stadium or in a hall, because they have played in full halls before. This time we were too nervous.”