Nagano, Japan, October 5, 2019 – Canada earned their first win of the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup on Saturday, holding off a brave Egypt fight-back to emerge as 3-2 (27-25, 27-25, 16-25, 22-25, 15-9) victors at Nagano White Ring arena.
Canada coach Daniel Lewis: “I’m really proud of the team. They fought hard. We had a really good start, of course we can see that reflected in the first two sets, and our young guys that are here played very well. But Egypt is not the Egypt I remember when I was a player. First of all, they are some of the most athletic volleyball players I’ve ever seen. Their speed and power combinations on the court are really impressive, and now they are really well coached and they’re much more organised, so they’re very difficult to control. After they also freed themselves in the third and the fourth set, they started to find some very good rhythm from the service line, and that put us in trouble. They broke both serving runs and opened up some space, and I think they were more free to continue to serve with power and deception, which they’re so good at. It was only in the fifth set where we were able to restart again which allowed us to have a good opportunity, and we managed to maintain that fifth set and stay focused. I think that’s probably what led to the first victory for us, which has been elusive to say the least.”
Canada captain Nicholas Hoag: “We are very happy with the win. We needed a win, especially for the mental side of things. Egypt played very well, they put a lot of pressure on their serves, which put us in trouble. Myself and Dan (Daniel Lewis, Canada coach) were talking just after the game that Egypt is not who they were three years ago, they’re a much better team now, much more skilled and they don’t make as many mistakes in reception. They made us play a lot and they played really well today. On our side, we fought – we were very aggressive at some times, especially in the fifth set – and we need that. Especially the young guys that we have, we need that to win these games, regardless of who’s on the other side of the court.”
Egypt coach Gido Vermeulen: “All my congratulations to the Canadian team for winning this game and to their coach for surprising us with their match-up in the first set. We prepared well for the game but it took some time to adjust to the other team, the other setter. We did well and the first two sets were really close, but I have a lot of respect for my team, how we fought back. Yesterday we were fighting Brazil at 8:30 in the evening and this morning at 11 again – I don’t think it’s bearable for players to do that. We are the only team who had this schedule. This is not an excuse, we don’t use it as an excuse because we fought our hearts out today. I think we played some beautiful volleyball, and my opinion is that if we can control our emotions a little bit more we can win this game.”
Egypt captain Ahmed Abdelhay: “First of all I would like to thank God, we were playing against one of the top level teams. We know that Canada are a very strong team, but we played very well today. We lost the match, from the beginning we were losing points, and the reason was the experience of some players. This will also be a very good lesson for them in the future. I had the same lessons when I played in the World Cup in 2003 and 2007, and I remember those matches that were in our hands and we lost.We remember every point in these matches, and they serve as lessons. I’m also proud of my team and think we have to continue competing and playing well like we are doing now. In the future I think we will be better.
“I was discussing issues concerning the match with Said ( No. 18 Ahmed Shafik) and supporting him. He is considered as one of the new players on the court. In 2015 he was here in the World Cup but he didn’t play in the first six. For the first time he is one of the important players and I was discussing different matters with him. I noticed that in the beginning he was not concentrating so well and I was supporting him. At the end of the match he started to play better. It was positive, I was talking positively with him, not blaming him. At the end I think he was playing very well.”