MATCH INFO

Tokyo, Japan, December 4, 2011 - China put up a good effort against Argentina on the final day of the 2011 FIVB Men’s World Cup, but struggled near the end of sets allowing the South Americans to take the 3-0 victory.

China coach Zhou Jianan: First as for today, Argentina played excellent. We were also able to play at a high level. I’m happy and satisfied with the result. As for the World Cup, for the first half of the tournament I was like in a dream and we had a lot of pressure from other teams, but in last half we played like ourselves I think and that’s a goal we could achieve. I think we got extensive experience in this tournament which means a lot to us.

On preliminary match next year versus rival Japan: In preliminaries our rival is not only Japan but also Iran, Australia and Korea. Only one can qualify so we hope we can compete well against all these countries.

China captain Zhong Weijun: First I’d like to congratulate the Argentina team on their win. They played a great game. We tried hard to win, but in the end just couldn’t make it. In first two sets we had opportunities, but couldn’t capitalize. We are a young team competing in this World Cup and we go back to China tomorrow taking these experiences back with us, so we can improve in the future.

Argentina coach Javier Weber: Thank you coach [Zhou] for your comments. I’m happy for today and satisfied with this tournament. It has been good for us. We started well, and after four poor matches, these last three matches were good. For a young team, having 11 matches in 15 days is not easy. These last three matches we played like we did in the first five, and this is important. For today I agree with coach [Zhou] that both teams played well, at a high level during the whole match. Argentina played well at the end of the sets, especially in the first and the second sets, and this was the difference today.

Argentina captain Rodrigo Quiroga: First my compliments to the Chinese team, it was a hard match today. They are young, but very good. They play quick and are good on defense. I think today the first two sets saw us fall behind in both, but after the last point we could win each one. I’m very happy for that and for the victory today. For the tournament this is the strongest competition in the world, with too many matches in just 15 days. I hope to play again in the 2015 World Cup, but I’m happy to get the seventh place spot we have now. We have to think about continental Olympic qualification.