Laurent Tillie pointed out France were a bit clueless on the second set about how to manage Canada
Curitiba, Brazil, July 7, 2017 - After celebrating the essential performance of Earvin Ngapeth on the win over Canada, French coach Laurent Tillie stressed the pride about being on 2017 FIVB Volleyball World League final match and on the chance to see where they are against “the best team of the world”.
Laurent Tillie, France coach: “It was a tough game, because Canada play well, without too many mistakes, and they put pressure on us with their blocks and some serves that really disturbed our game plan. At one point we were a little bit knocked out, because we didn’t know how to manage this team. Fortunately, Ngapeth did a great match and he brought the team back to this victory. Now we’re proud to be here, in Brazil playing against the host team at a World League final, and it will be a big challenge for us. They’re the best team in the world so we want to compete, to see where we are.”
Benjamin Toniutti, France captain: “We did very well on staying on the game after losing the second set. Canada play some really good volleyball, so we prepared the match really well and we were ready to fight. We had a lot of energy today and now we are looking forward to this final match against Brazil. I think it’s the final everyone wanted to see before this Final Round. Both teams fought a lot to reach this stage and we will do everything to take the gold medal.”
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John Gordon Perrin, Canada captain: “They played a really good game on defence, but we expected that. They are really strong on that and mostly when we play them we get a little frustrated, because we can attack strong and well and they still defend us, and then they’re very good in transition so that’s where they won the game. Now we will approach the bronze medal game as any other - obviously it will be exciting for us if we can win a medal and to play against our rivals USA, so for sure it’ll be a fun match.”
Stéphane Antiga, Canada coach: “France of course is one of the favourites here and we played a pretty good game against them. We could have been better on spiking, but anyway we have a good feeling about it as they’re better than us. I’m pretty sure we can play better and better to one day beat a strong team like France - we have already improved since the beginning of the World League. We have grown on all elements, we have good organisation on the court and I’m very satisfied for the behavior of the guys. It was already a success to be in this Final Round but we still want to keep on winning. Tomorrow, I’m confident on our chances and hopefully we can give Canada their first-ever World League medal.”