Ruse, Bulgaria, September 18, 2018. Brazil finished the first round of the 2018 FIVB World Championship in the best way possible! The current Olympic champions defeated China in straight-sets 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-17) in “Arena Monbat”.
Bruno Rezende, captain of Brazil: “I think we played a great match. We were focused and we played really well in attack. Even when our reception did not work well, our attackers were really intelligent to not commit mistakes, so I think we played good in this aspect of the match. It was important for us to win 3-0 because this will give us a chance to finish the first phase on the top of the pool. Now we have to rest for the next round. May be we have to be more consistent in our play during the next phase because sometimes we have great moments and sometimes we commit a lot of mistakes. Finally, I am happy that we played here in Ruse. The crowd was amazing. Our first match against France was really beautiful, everybody was cheering for us and I want to thank for the support.”
Luiz Felipe Marques Fonteles – ‘Lipe’, player of Brazil: “We came determined to make a good game. We knew that technically we are a little bit stronger than China. We came focused and we gave 100% to make our job done well. This 3-0 victory was very important for us. Now we have to wait and see if we are going to finish first or second in the pool and to concentrate for the next phase of the championship. I think for the next phase we have to be aggressive in every match. It does not matter what opponent we will play against, we must make aggressive games. The focus on every fundamental of the game is really important as well – good serve, attention to the block, good reception. All the teams have a very strong service, so we must focus a lot on the reception. However, the aggressive play is most important for the next phase in my opinion.”
Raul Lozano, coach of China: “In the first parts of the sets today we played well, but in the end we couldn’t manage to keep this high level of performance. For Brazil this match was really important. They really wanted to win and they deserved this victory. Congratulations to them.”