Ruse, Bulgaria, September 17, 2018 - The Netherlands continued with the outstanding performance at the 2018 FIVB World Championship and achieved their fourth consecutive win in “Arena Monbat”! The Hollands beat Egypt 3-1 (25-18, 25-21, 23-25, 25-16) and topped the standings in Pool B with 11 points!
Gido Vermeulen, coach of the Netherlands: “It was very difficult for us today because we played four days in a row. You never do that in a tournament, never. Usually three matches in a row is the maximum. We put in the fresh guys who did not play a lot. They played two sets very good and in the third set this players also were at their power end. I was very happy that in the fourth set my boys managed to finish the job. Ter Maat did an incredible job at serve, so we got some air and we were able to finish the game in the best way possible. I do not know what to expect from the next round, we have to wait the results now and to see where we have to go. Now we will have some good rest. Our rest day is tomorrow, so we have one more day to recover which is good for us. I also want to mention that the hall here in Ruse is beautiful. The first day we stepped in we thought that we can play a good volleyball here. The atmosphere is really good, so we were really happy to be in Ruse.”
Wouter Ter Maat, top scorer of the match with 26 points for the Netherlands: “We played a good match! We started well, not with the energy we had against Brazil and France, because we knew already that we are in the next round, but still. We picked it up quite well, we defeated them and only in the third set we did not play well. In the end we came too close, but I made a mistake and we lost the set. In the next one we started as we can and we won the match. I don’t know what to expect from the second round. We will see who will be our opponents. We just need to prepare as good as is possible and we will see what will happen. I will remember Ruse with good for sure! All the fans were jumping when we made a block or an ace, it was crazy and really nice!”
Mohamed Moselhy Ibrahim, coach of Egypt: “I think there are two reasons for the outcome of today’s match – first of all, a lot of players were very tired from yesterday. The second reason is that after the Netherland’s win yesterday, we lost our hope to qualify for the next round. In general our group had the most powerful teams. There were three teams that are considered favorites. However, I am very satisfied with the way my team performed here. If we have the opportunity to play yearly about 30 matches at the same level, I think we would have very good results.”