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VenezuelaPress release
Puerto Rico played really aggressively: Japan's Fukuzawa
Yuta Yoneyama redy to meet the press in the mixed zone after the winning match against Puerto Rico.
Press conference: Japan v Puerto Rico
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Japan coach Tatsuya Ueta: In the first set, we weren’t relaxed enough to play well. We knew that if we started passively that would happen and we could lose the first set. From the second set, our serves and blocks became effective and our defence also got better. We have to check and reflect on today’s game and prepare for tomorrow’s match against Iran.
Japan No. 13 Kunihiro Shimizu: In the first set the relationship between serving and blocking wasn’t so good. Puerto Rico were more aggressive than us so it was very tough. After the second set, we were able to get our act together and things became a lot better.
Japan No. 14 Tatsuya Fukuzawa: I think the first set was really important to find our own pace, but our opponents were really aggressive and we were a bit passive. We couldn’t adapt to our own way of playing. Their serves and attacks down the middle were very strong and that’s why we lost the first set. However, from the second set we improved our offensive strategy and this helped us win. We couldn’t systematically block the side attackers, so we need to improve that point before tomorrow.
Japan captain Daisuke Usami: Like Fukuzawa said, we became too passive. We have to be aggressive from the first set tomorrow. We’re not going to win by being passive, so we will try hard from the start tomorrow.
(Re. Iran match on Sunday): We lost at the Asian Games so we have to win tomorrow. We know how they’re going to play so we will deal with it and prepare well for the match.
Puerto Rico coach Carlos Cardona: I think I have mentioned before that Puerto Rico make too many mistakes, but tonight against Japan we put on an excellent performance. But we couldn’t break the Japanese. The level of Japan is higher than us, so Japan deserved to win the game tonight.
(Q: How can you stop errors?): We made many errors and these are issues we must address in the future. They are basic, technical errors. Compared to other teams we are inferior from a technical point of view and the rate of controlling the ball is lower than other teams. We need to correct our errors and to do that we must practice and practice. Also, although we have many experienced players, we need to nurture younger players for our team.
Puerto Rico captain Jose Rivera: I think we probably played our best match of the tournament so far today. We entered the court with more a lot more energy and we were able to win the first set. Overall, Japan is a better team than us right now. We had many problems with reception and sideout volleyball. They played better than us and deserved to win.
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