Czech
“We played well for some sections of all sets but unfortunately we caught a poor start in set 4 and our performance there was packed with ups and downs. The players did not stick to our game plan and tactics but still I could see a general improvement in comparison with the first match against Macedonia” says Austria’s mentor Michael Warm. “I think the progress was evident”.
“It was a typical match from such a qualification tournament, full of mistakes but in the end we could bring it home. I am happy that we could avoid the tie-break because there Austria would have evidently benefited from the support of the home audience” stresses Croatia mentor Igor Simuncic. “Our concentration dropped after two sets and we relaxed a bit too much but in the end we regrouped and we could show that we are stronger than Austria” adds Croatian player Sime Vulin.
About his match against Macedonia, Czech player Vladimir Sobotka said: “I am happy that we stayed focused from the start until the end and we played a short game as we wanted to save energy for our match against Austria. This was a very important victory”.
