Wroclaw, Poland, July 1, 2009 – Brazil is probably the best team in the world and we’re happy we had a possibility to play against them. It always hurts when you loses, but I’m sure it will bring profits in the future – said Polish opposite Marcel Gromadowski after the third weekend of the 2009 FIVB World League. Poland didn’t get a set in two confrontations with world champions and nearly touched the bottom of the pool’s D table. Now the young Poles will face Venezuela – a team they already beat twice in this year’s competition.

-This rival is definitely within our reach. We were able to win both matches on their soil, and we expect another wins here in Wroclaw – said Polish wing-spiker Michal Ruciak. If we improve our attack, I have no doubt we’ll beat them on Friday and Saturday – Ruciak adds.

The atmosphere in the Venezuelan camp is far from idyllic. The South Americans lost twice to the Finns last weekend, but lived another setback when their setter Rodman Valera injured his knee.

-His participation in the upcoming matches is very doubtful – said Venezuelan head coach Jose Gutierrez.

In the middle of the competition Poland and Venezuela have five points each and their chances to get the first place in pool D are only mathematical. The Poles still believe they can get a wild card to the Belgrade Finals, but to make it happen they have to take the second place in their group.  First step to achieve that is to beat Venezuela in Wroclaw.

- I can assure all the fans we’ll fight until the last ball. Our goal is to get six points from those two matches in Wroclaw – Ruciak said.

It is the third time Poland and Venezuela meet in the intercontinental round of World League. In their first encounter in 2001 Venezuela beat Poland in four sets, but then lost three successive matches. In 2003 the Poles also won three out of four. Two weeks ago, in La Guaira, Poland achieved two victories.

Press conference:

Venezuelan head coach Jose A. Gutierrez: I hope my team will play well. We expect very close games and we’ll do our best to win both matches. We have some injury worries. Ivan Marquez and Rodman Valera aren’t  100% fit, but we have to cope with it.

Venezuelan captain Andy Rojas:  This weekend will be very important for us. Like Poland we have five point from six matches and those two games in Wroclaw have big significance. We only won once, but few times we lost after a five-set battle.

Polish head coach Daniel Castellani: Venezuela is a strong team. They fight hard in every match. This weekend we’ll try to move up in the table. To do that, we need two wins. For me is also important to see progress. I need to know that my team is improving, especially in the elements we work so hard on during trainings. This is a group of young and very talented players. They can achieve a lot.

Polish captain Michal Bakiewicz:  We’re very happy to play again in front of this fantastic Polish public. Our goal is to win both matches. We did it in Venezuela and we want to repeat it here in Wroclaw. We know it won’t be easy, but we’ll do our best to satisfy all the fans.