Ljubljana, Slovenia, July 5, 2019 - After a fierce five-set-battle Cuba beat Egypt in the last match of Pool B at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Challenger Cup in Ljubljana.
Marlon Yang Herrera, outside hitter of Cuba: “After a good start we lost concentration in the third set. However, we kept fighting and improving our performance till the end of the match. We are already looking forward to the semifinals, we will play to win.”
Nicolas Vives, head coach of Cuba: “In the third set our team lost motivation a little bit and we relaxed too much. My players are very young men and this is something normal. In general, it was a good match, Egypt are a good team that knows how to play. We delivered a good performance and we won at the end.”
Abdallah Abdalsalam, setter of Egypt: "I said to my team to fight till the end. After losing the first and second set, we tried to come back into the game and we showed good volleyball in the third and fourth sets. In the decisive set we made more mistakes, we wanted to win quickly and eventually we lost."
Gido Veremeulen, head coach of Egypt: "We played good volleyball in the opening set, we were really focused, but they were a little bit better. The second we just lost, but then with all the substitutions we played as a team. Everybody who came in showed a good game, we had a flow, but then in the last part we started very badly, and we were not able to fix it, so it's very disappointing. I think we can play much better than this."