Poprad, Slovakia, June 2, 2017 - Coach of Australia Mark Lebedew was happy for his team to start the 2017 World League in thrilling five setter against Portugal.
Australia coach, Mark Lebedew - "The match was very close. We had obviously changes to close the match earlier, but we have wasted big lead. We had really great fight spirit and we stayed agressive until the end. The athosmphere was nice and I hope will be more noisy when we will play against Slovakia."
Australia captain, Paul Carroll - "I am very proud that we mentally stuck in. It is very hard when you waste lead like this, it was 14-11 for us. I am happy that we were able to win it finally and it is important for us, because it was our first official match in this season."
Portugal coach, Hugo Silva - "In general, this match was very good. In my opinion, we made big mistakes in moments that were important for us, I mean in the fifth set. We need to concentrate more and believe, because when you believe, you can win."
Portugal captain, Alexandre Ferreira - "For beginning of the World League this was good game. It was mainly about experiences. We have new team, we started to play together just two weeks ago. We had to push more on serve, but many matches are waiting for us and I hope we will get stronger and stronger."
