Dmtry Volkov of Russia celebrate the victory in four sets over Brazil at semifinal on Saturday.
Tijuana, Mexico, September 19, 2015 - Russian coach Mikhail Nikolaev said that it is not easy to face the same team in a World Championship, especially when talking about finals.
Russia defeated Brazil in four sets, This was the second time the defending champions lose one set at the tournament, but are still unbeaten.
“All matches between teams like ours (Russia and Brazil) always very important. Today we had two equal teams, but we served better in important moments,”said after the victory over the Brazilians.
Russia will match Argentina again, like in the first pools round, but Nikolaev remarked that it will be some kind of different.
“It is difficult because it will be the the second match against one team. It is difficult win two matches against one team,” he added.
“If we play well we win, If we play as today (against Brazil), I don’t know, but we have to prepare,” Nikolaev concluded.
Fernando Kreling, captain of Brazil shared his comments: “We had good control of the result in third set. We had less mistakes than in the rest, but in the fourth Russia opened with 5 or 6 points advantage, that was enough for them to play more comfortably with such difference.”
Kreling admitted that they felt some pressure. “We played under pressure in the fourth, fighting back against the result, trying to get it and it was too complicated for us and Russia finally made it.”
For Brazilian coach Leonardo Carvalho the early mistakes complicated their aspirations for a final. “We could not control things in that fourth set. Their service was too strong and they opened with that 5 and 6 points difference and the match became easier for them,” Carvalho said.
“It is too difficult to play against Russia under that circumstances. You need a bigger consistency. They showed it as well as got everything easier to resolve the match in their favor,” the Brazilian coach stated.
“It was a good match, but unfortunately we could not reach the goal of playing the final. To do it we must play a lot more and better volleyball, we tried tonight but it was not easy. You must always do something more.”