Bruno Rezende of Brazil raises his arm during the victory over USA
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 16, 2015 - Brazil and USA coaches lived opposite feelings after the match today. While the Brazilian Bernardo Rezende celebrated the victory, the American John Speraw has now the pressure to win the next game against France to continue to defend this year’s title of the World League.
Bernardo Rezende, Head coach Brazil – “The most positive aspect of the match today was the change of the attitude of the team. After we lost the game against France we had the courage and a positive attitude to play against another outstanding opponent, the USA. Today we had a very good counterattack, the block was not so good and the serve we still need to improve.
Bruno Rezende, Capitain Brazil – “ We knew that it would be a very tough match and that the USA has an aggressive attack and a heavy serve. We talked a lot after our defeat yesterday and as the captain I tried to push the team. It was a prove of maturity of the team.”
John Speraw, Head Coach USA – "Obviously we are disappointing with the loss. I feel like we could have played better volleyball. Mostly I am proud of the fact we were able to fight and come back throughout the course of the match even though we weren’t playing our best volleyball of the summer. I think we had some opportunities in the first set and we weren’t as sharp offensively as we needed to be. In the second set we played a little bit better. Third set, we were up, and then Lucarelli really finished the third set very well for Brazil. He was excellent. In the fourth set, I was proud of our team for fighting like they did. I am happy with what our team showed tonight. We are going to have to show a lot more of it tomorrow against a great French team in order to move on."
David Lee, Capitain USA – “We still have an inconsistent serve and pass. We need to be more confident in the game. But, it was a very important experience playing in Maracanazinho a year before the Olympic Games.