MATCH INFO

German coach Vital Heynen:

“I´m very happy with the success tonight. We played very well during the first set. At the end of the second set you could see first changes in our game but in Cuba´s as well. They adapted themselves to our way of playing while we got some problems. In my opinion Cuba was the better team during third set till the fifth but finally we won.”

German captain Björn Andrae:

 “I´m delighted. It was a tough game like we expected. We played splendid during the first two sets. But Cuba came back while we lost our rhythm. Everything can happen in a tie-break but we proved strength of nerve. For us it´s the most important win in years.”

Cuba coach Orlando Samuels:

 “The German team proved they deserve to compete at the Olympic Games. We had the same possibility but didn´t deploy it. It´s like four years ago when we couldn´t win the tie-break either. I´m still happy with my team´s reaction after the 0-2 lag, we just didn´t play well enough in the final phase.”

Cuba captain Wilfredo Leon:

“It was a long and very strong game on a high level, at the end it was just bad luck. But I know that our team can learn by experience.”