Japan Coach Tatsuya Ueta

Japan's serving wasn't weak, but we made many mistakes. The defense didn't work out at all and the players weren't moving well. I need to talk with my players about that.

(Re. Mentality) When the Cubans make mistakes on court, they criticize each other. The Japanese players, on the other hand, are influenced by Japanese culture and are very forgiving when someone makes a mistake, almost like it's OK to make a mistake.

It's a team sport and the players are like brothers, but like brothers they need to fight among themselves sometimes.

Our players were neither encouraging each other nor criticizing each other.

Japan Captain Daisuke Usami

It was hard today. Our rhythm was no good. We had to focus more, but we were too nervous. We really have to develop this aspect more and be more aggressive.

We also need to serve better.

We are mentally weak and I think we have to be more proactive and each one of us must understand our responsibility to the team.

Next week, we must change our thinking and be more positive.

(Re. Pressure of playing at home) Of course, we feel more pressure at home, but we must play our game even when we're under pressure. Today, we couldn't play together as a team.

Japan No. 18, Yuta Yoneyama

Up to the halfway point, we played our own brand of volleyball, but in the second part we made mistakes and basically shot ourselves in the foot.

Next week in Tokyo, we have to do better.

(Re. Pressure of playing at home)

I feel pressure playing in Japan and more when playing for the national team.

Cuba Captain Roberlandy Simon

If we didn't try our best we wouldn't be able to get to the finals.

Today wasn't too tough, but it wasn't a walkover either.

Japan is not a weak team and we can learn from their speedy play.

We want to do our best until the end of the competition.

Cuba Coach Orlando Samuels

Today's game was easier than yesterday's. I think the Japan team is not in the best shape at the moment. They had a number of serving errors and we were able to block them quite a lot.

They need to get a little stronger, but I guess it's hard for them to maintain the same level every day.

(Re. Changing players) I changed the lineup around to give some players a chance to play and to maintain the level of their performance. If we used the same players all the time, they would be exhausted and by changing them around we maintain their condition and make sure their performance levels don't drop.

As a result, they all work harder.