Successful weekend for Netherlands in the first weekend of the World League
Matosinhos, Portugal, May 17, 2015 – For the second day in a row, Netherlands beat Portugal on the opening weekend of the FIVB World League – but they were made to work much harder for their 3-2 (17-25, 25-18, 24-26, 25-21, 15-12) victory on Sunday than for their 3-1 win on Saturday.
Dutch coach Gido Vermeulen said: "We're not entirely happy because the team had some errors, specially in the third set. We were leading and we lost it. When we play away that sometimes happens - as the fans carry the home team - but we managed to overcome that and win the match."
Netherlands player Van Dijk said: "I liked today's victory because we had to work harder to achieve it."
Portugal coach Hugo Silva said: "The ending set reminded us of yesterday's match. Nevertheless, we have improved, which is a good indicator that the team has something to built on. We were better today and we were unfortunate to lose the fourth set."
Portuguese player André Lopes said: "We managed to improve in reception, but we were playing a great opponent who are strong on their serve. We are working well towards our main objective, which is to win a Euro final stage spot against Slovenia in the upcoming weekends."