Belgium had to work so hard to win, said their coach
Liege, Holland, 14 June, 2015 – Belgium Belgian coach Dominique Baeyens said his side’s 3-2 (25-13, 25-27, 30-28, 23-25, 15-14) win over Portugal was truly tough going.
“I’m pleased with the victory,” said Baeyens. “It could be have been better, it could have been worse! It was a heavy physical battle. Some people said that four wins against Portugal would be enough to make the final four, but I think it will be a battle until the last matches against the Netherlands. It will not be easy."
Seppe Baetens of Belgium added: “We expected a better Portugal than on Saturday. Congratulations to the strong Portuguese team of today. Alex Ferreira was a surprise. I think we are a bit tired. We did not play our best game. A week of rest will be good.”
Portugal coach Hugo Silva said: “We wanted to win at least one set, and we could have won the whole match. Unfortunately, the referees were not with us. We also saw how important a player as Alex Ferreira is. He is very strong and he was the reason the rest of the team played better than yesterday. We played quicker than in the first game. We hope to have at least this level next week against the Netherlands."
Marco Ferreira added: “After the last set on Saturday evening, we believed in our chances. We played much better in attack, serve and block. At the end of each set we missed the experience that the Belgian players had. We can still play better and we will try to improve our level next week against the Netherlands."