Matosinhos, Portugal, May 16, 2015 – Coach Gido Vermeulen said he was pleased that his team managed to win in front of a passionate Portuguese crowd, after Netherlands beat Portugal 3-2 (17-25, 25-18, 24-26, 25-21, 15-12) in their second FIVB World League match of the weekend on Sunday.
"We're not entirely happy because the team had some errors, especially in the third set,” said Vermeulen. “We were leading, and we faltered at the end. When we play away that sometimes happens, as the fans carry the home team, but we managed to overcome that and win the match"
Netherland’s Kay Van Dijk added: "I liked today's victory, because we had to work harder to achieve it.”
Portugal coach Hugo Silva said: "This ending set reminded us of yesterday's match. Nevertheless we have improved, which is a good indicator that the team has something to build on. We were better today and we were unfortunate to lose the fourth set. Maybe we could have done better and won by 3-1.”
André Lopes added: "We managed to improve on the reception but we were playing a great opponent that puts much pressure 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."