MATCH INFO

Kumamoto, Japan, November 24, 2011 - Brazil came away with a very big win in the second round of the 2011 FIVB Men’s World Cup, beating a Russian squad that until today looked all but invincible.

Brazil captain Gilberto Godoy Filho (Giba): After the last match against Italy this game was our big final. All the team, from the first ball to last ball, [treated this like] a final. Now the championship is open again, and we’re thinking about the next match, and then the one after that. The World Cup is hard for everybody, and we have to be thinking about going step by step.

Russia is one of the strongest teams here this World Cup. This is just the fourth match, and we need to take it step by step, and keep a good head for playing every game — because when you lose 3-2 you lose points.

On his fans in Japan: For fans here in Japan I’d like to say arigato gozaimasu. I like Japan and I like to see the fans here, what people do for volleyball… and I just say want to say arigato.

Brazil coach Bernardo Rezende: First of all I think Brazil did a good job defensively today, and played well overall. The first question I heard after [the loss to] Italy was why were there so many mistakes. As Mr. Alekno said, mistakes cost matches. We tried to play focused and with few mistakes. As Giba said, this is just the fourth match with seven to go. We are back again. We could have compromised our qualification [in this match]. We have to qualify for the London Olympics, that’s our main goal. If we can do more than that, it is better of course, but this is a very important three points against a great team.

On number 6, Leandro Vissotto Neves: I think today he played good attacking and blocking. His serving was bad, but he’s working hard on that. He must get more confidence and must be a better server for us in the future… better serving, better defense. He’s okay in attacking and blocking.

Russia coach Vladimir Alekno: First I want to congratulate the Brazilian team. Sport is sport, and of course in sport mistakes cause defeats. And we made many mistakes in this game. As for our future games we need to prepare now for the Egyptian team now.

Russia captain Taras Khtey: First I’d like to congratulate the Brazilian team. They played a good game. Russia played hard, but we couldn’t catch up with them unfortunately. We couldn’t do well today, but we’ll do our best next time.

Russia player Pavel Kruglov: Of our many other games, this game was the worst I can think of, maybe because we were emotional. We have many more game in future, against Egypt and others. We’ll do our best in the next games.

Is there a difference seeing Brazil on the court, rather than from the bench? This is a difficult question, but I think it’s the same. The Brazilians are very strong so we are very excited every time when we play against them.