Manabe
Belgium coach Gert Vande Broek:
“I was satisfied with the first set, which was quite good and we defended very well. But from the start of the second set we lost a bit of control in receiving and made many mistakes in attack. The game changed in favour of Japan and Japan had rhythm, and when Japan have rhythm they are difficult to stop. The way Japan play is a real promotion for volleyball. I like their defense, but as a player I can imagine that you wouldn’t like it.”
(Re. playing Japan in the World Championship):
“Japan has a better team and more players used to playing at the international level, so we’ll have to forego our chances against Japan and China. If we want to get to the second round, we must focus on our games against Cuba, Puerto Rico and Azerbaijan. Every point we get against Japan or China will be a bonus point and every point we get against them, I will buy Champagne for my staff.”
Belgium No. 3 Frauke Dirickx:
“First, congratulations to Japan. I think we played a good game in the first set. After that, I think Japan were too smart and stable for us to keep playing well against them. They have a great defense. They only had one kill block, but it was hard for us to score. We can be satisfied with the first set but after that Japan were just too good.”
Q: Was there anything you didn’t like about playing Japan?
“I don’t like the defense of Japan!”
Japan coach Masayoshi Manabe:
“We weren’t so good at the start, but after the second set, we were able to target our serves well and we had good defense and good blocks. We were targeting players in the beginning but they were receiving well. “
“Brazil serves very well and the key will be if we can receive at around 70 or 80 per cent. If we can’t do that, the game might be difficult. And I think we need to gain points quickly against Brazil in each set.
Japan captain Saori Kimura:
“Today at the start it was difficult to get into the rhythm of the game as the Belgians received well, and that was very frustrating, but I was happy we were able to win.”
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