Portugal
The Netherlands got the right to challenge the last ranked team of the 2012 FIVB World League after winning this year’s European League and beating twice the Dominican Republic in the first round of the so-called Playoffs.
“The Dutch have a strong team especially after some players joined back the group, especially their middle blockers” says Portugal’s coach Flavio Gulinelli. “Their wing spiker Rauwerdink is very good and they have a promising setter, Nimir Abdelaziz. Their serve is also very good and we need to perform well in reception to prepare our side-out with the necessary accuracy. Our path until now is positive in a way that I could not expect. The friendly matches against the Czech Republic and the ones played in Slovenia were important for developing our team. Having to play away is never easy, but we will do our best. This Playoff will be though for both teams”.
The head coach also stressed the importance of the campaign that will be carried out by the Portuguese Volleyball Federation in the fight against hunger in combination with the European qualifier coming up in ten days: “I believe this is a good initiative. This is the first time I’m involved in such kind of initiatives and I consider that honorable in its intent. I stand by the idea that sports should be working closely to real life situations and aid those who struggle with difficulties. I hope this cause can attract as many people as possible and with their support we can combine good results to this campaign that deserves all our attention”.
Carlos Fidalgo has a deeper knowledge of the Dutch players. The Portuguese middle-blocker was part of the national team that defeated the Dutch in May 2010, opening a winning streak that lead to the qualification for the 2011 European Championship.
Besides, he played for the Dutch team Twente in the 2010/2011 season, thereby facing some of the players that will be standing on the other side of the net in Rotterdam this weekend.
This time Carlos Fidalgo is out due to an injury, same as Filipe Pinto, however via his experience he can profile the representatives of the Dutch national team.
“The Netherlands are facing a renovation process, quite like Portugal. They have some experienced players of great quality that we know well and some young promising players, against whom I had the opportunity to play. I believe they are a well balanced team. We should stick to our game plan. We are aware of the Dutch team’s quality, but I believe that we have good chances to play in the 2013 World League Intercontinental Round once again. In this type of playoffs (two matches), winning the first match is extremely important because it gives you some confidence for the second one. The qualification for the 2013 European Championship is our main goal, and that was on our minds during all summer. It’s very important that we can clinch the qualification, and I think we should assume some favoritism. We know that we have to play to win in each game, although we have to face some strong teams as well, like Turkey or Belarus, mainly, but I think we have the pre-conditions to accomplish our goal”.
