Thousands of Finnish kids celebrated the victory in Vaasa.
Vaasa, Finland, June 5, 2015 – Thousands of young Finnish children saw their heroes win against Portugal in three sets 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-22). 7000 kids in Vaasa play the annual Power Cup tournament and 4000 of 4900 spectators filling the Vaasa Ice Hall tonight were also children.
Finland coach Tuomas Sammelvuo said: “There was a really good atmosphere in the hall. Big thanks to the young spectators. I hope that this gives these young kids more motivation to continue their careers as volleyball players. I know what it is to see your own heroes play. We served well but struggled a bit with reception. Tomorrow will be another day and we must be tough to win again.”
Finland captain Antti Siltala said: ”This was maybe the best place for us to play. Thousands of kids cheering for us. The atmosphere was huge and it was great to play. We served well, which helped our blocking and defence. We improved in every part of the game comparing to the previous matches.”
Portugal coach Hugo Silva said: ”We expected the strong serves from Finland and they came. This was a difficult game for us and we made too many mistakes. It was not easy to play the attacks today. Tomorrow we will try to correct our mistakes and play better.”
Portugal captain Joao Jose said: ”It was difficult for us. We need a lot more balance in our game. We struggled with many problems that we could not solve in this match. I don’t have a clear explanation why our game was like it was. We must do better tomorrow.”