MATCH INFO

Kagoshima, Japan, November 20, 2011 - Top-ranked Brazil started off 2011 FIVB World Cup play with a match against 12th ranked Egypt. Although the Egyptians were clearly out-matched on the day, Brazil’s coach Rezende was impressed with their effort. He now looks ahead to a matchup with the USA tomorrow.

Brazil coach Bernardo Rezende: First of all I’d like to congratulate my friend [coach Elshemerly Sherif] and Egypt. They never gave up and that’s very important. It’s always tougher and tougher to qualify for them, competing against Algeria, Cameroon, Tunisia, Nigeria. I wish them best of luck to qualify for the Olympics. As for us, we didn’t have many matches after the South American games. We were worried about a lack of rhythm, and our service was up and down. We hope Dante [Amaral] is not injured, if he is we will miss him. We have the Olympic champion USA team tomorrow, so let's wait and see what we can do tomorrow.

Brazil player Marlon Muraguti Yared: So we had a good game today. We had a small accident today, but I’d like to do our best today.

On his leg, after coming off with an apparent injury: My leg is ok. I’m ready.

On their condition going into this tournament: We have just completed competitions in South America and America, but our motivation for this tournament is also very high.

Brazil captain Gilberto Godoy Filho (Giba): Today is the first match for us in these championships. It is very hard for us with three matches and one day off two matches, one day off, it's so hard. Today we had a little problem with Marlon [Muraguti Yared], and in this tournament we need every player for every match. We need to rest quickly and think about the USA tomorrow.

Egypt coach Elshemerly Sherif: First I’d like to congratulate my friend [Bernardo Rezende]. I hope Brazil can arrive at the final. About our team, I think this is the first match after the African Championships. We just played two friendlies before coming here. From September there were no matches, and this is our first in now front of the champions, and its very difficult for us. I hope at the end of tournament we can [take the experiences from] all our games for the qualification tournament in Cameroon. I wish all success for Brazil, we love and respect their team and wish them good luck.

Egypt captain Ashraf Abouelhassan: Today was the first match for us in the World Cup. Of course the Brazilian team are a very big, high level team. We did our best to do as much as we can. But the Brazilians didn’t give us much space to play. I hope in the next matches we will play better than today.

On which of his players stood out: I think no one played very good today; the level was not good for all players, except the newcomer player number 11 Ahmed Afifi (aka Youssef), I was satisfied with him. We are missing our number 1 (Salah Youssef), he didn’t play with us in this World Cup. The team couldn’t play at its peak as we didn’t play national league, and we don’t have professional players. In the next matches I think you will see them perform better than today.

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