Varna, Bulgaria, September 14, 2018 – Finland achieved their first win in Pool D of the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship bringing more than 3000 Finnish fans in Palace of Culture and Sport some festive emotions. The Nordic Europeans beat Cuba by 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 20-25, 25-16) and kept their chances for qualifying to the next round.
Tuomas Sammelvuo, head coach of Finland: “The crowd encouraged us! It is great to play in front of so many Finnish fans away from home! Our team performed very well and the result proves it. It is hard to play against such a well physically prepared team like Cuba but we were focused and we achieved our tactical goals especially on serve. We need to rest a bit and start thinking about our next match.”
Markus Kaurto, player of Finland: “Once again, our fans were truly amazing and they did not stop supporting us through the whole game! We managed to play our style of Volleyball, pushed them with serves and destroyed their defence. On the other hand our blockers did great job on the net which also helped us a lot.”
Niclas Coffigny, head coach of Cuba: "We gave our best, we fought, we won a set, but probably we are not experienced enough to keep the high playing level during a whole match. Now it is time for analysis and preparation for the next game against one of the leaders in our pool - the team of Iran.”
Miguel Suarez, player of Cuba: „We enjoyed a lot this though match despite the loss. We were trying so hard, we won a third set but at the end Finland did not let us playing our game. Tomorrow we are going to meet Iran which is one of the leaders in Pool D at the moment but we are not scared at all. We are still motivated enough to get a victory.”