Amsterdam, Netherlands, August 29, 2018 – After friendlies against Italy, France and Brazil earlier this month, Netherlands coach Gido Vermeulen and his staff have arranged meetings with Belgium and Argentina in preparation for the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship.
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“It is the ideal preparation for us in terms of practice matches,” Vermeulen said.
For the first time since 2002, the Dutch team will be making its return to the FIVB Volleyball World Championships to compete with the world’s top men’s teams.
They are grouped with Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt and France in Pool B and will play their first match against Canada on September 12.
Vermeulen created a busy training programme for his players to prepare his team for a long, tough tournament.
“We do not want to travel so much more in the last few weeks before the World Championship, but we still have to play good practice matches.” Vermeulen said. “It’s great that the national federation has set up a nice training programme for us at home.
“We are going to play the Belgians, another opponent with a different game,” said Vermeulen on their scheduled friendlies with Belgium on August 31 and September 1.
“We will also play against Argentina on September 6 and 8. Argentina are very strong opponents. They are absolutely among the top teams in the world. That will be a very good final test for us before the World Championship.
“It is very important in the preparation to play such match against strong opponents. It’s fantastic to play against such teams in front of your own audience. It’s also fantastic to see where we stand as a team before the World Championship.”