Tehran, Iran, June 11, 2017 – Marko Podrascanin finds improving in any game a key objective for Serbia after the reigning FIVB World League champions defeated Belgium in straight sets.
Serbia coach Nikola Grbic: I am very satisfied obviously, not only because of the victory we deserved, but it was the third win in a row. We played late yesterday and there were things that could have given us some problem for this match. But I saw my guys so concentrated and they really wanted this victory. We lost against Belgium in Serbia and we really wanted to win today. So, it is not only important for the result, and for the qualification for the Final Six, but it is also important for our confidence. We prevailed over a team who beat us 3-0 in our home.
Serbia captain Marko Podrascanin: I am very happy about three victories in a row. This is a perfect tournament for us because we won three games and got 9 points. We came here with our important players from last year's World League and this is a great result. I am pleased with our game, we controlled the game from the first point to the end. We are improving our game by game and day by day and it is very important for us. I wish all the best for the Belgium team in the rest of the tournament. And now we are going to Argentina trying to win all the games because we are good team, we are young.
Belgium coach Vital Heynen: First of all congratulations to Serbia. They were not the best, but much better than us. My idea is every disadvantage has an advantage. Last week, we beat Serbia 3-0, but I tried to explain people that this is exceptional. Serbia is one of the best teams in the world. It is not so easy to play against them. If you win them one time, you cannot expect it. Today we learned that Belgium has long way to go to get as good as Serbia. We were good last week and today they were much better. I hope we can learn, I also hope Serbia wins all their matches next week. That can only help us to go to the Final Six. What can I tell more to Nikola to ask him to win all their matches? Nikola you are the best coach in the world.
Belgium captain Sam Deroo: I think it is obviously one of the games with more wanted 3 points for this tournament. We have to admit that Serbia was the better team today and played very good volleyball. They performed very efficient. I think we had chances in the first and third set but they had a lot of amazing serves and defenses and they deserved this victory.