Brazil’s inconsistent play was really head turning in the VNL. After beating the Netherlands and China in the Final’s 6 pool round, everybody thought that the team was a clear favorite for the title. After all, besides having beat the current Olympic champions with ease, this is a team that has already won 12 Grand Prix gold medals. The excitement didn’t last though, as the team was then swept by Turkey and China en route to a 4th place finish. The team will now have a break of 2 weeks before it goes back to the gym to prepare itself for FIVB’s World Championship.
Coach José Roberto Guimarães recognized his team’s shortcomings, but praised its fighting spirit, amidst the absence of many of the squad’s most important players. Truth be told, absentees Natália Zilio, Thaisa Daher, Dani Lins, and Fernanda Garay would be absolute starters in the tournament.
Here are extra exceperts of the coach’s interview to Globo.com:
“We had many ups and downs throughout the League of Nations. We grew in the final stages, we improved. We take from it the learning experience. We knew of the difficulties, but the team fought. It did not stop trying. That’s what I told them in our exit meeting, as I also thanked them. When you lose playing the way you wanted to, you hold your head up high. Of course they all wanted to win, but this is part of a process to get to the World Cup as best we can.
I know we’re going to get a lot of criticism in Brazil for the fourth place, it’s part of it, we have to understand that the volleyball fan wants us to do the best we can. I know everyone has their preferences for some player. But we know what the requirement are here, and we do not have the best of all players. We’ll fight very hard against or limitations to win games. The World Championship is or main goal, and we have great faith that we can fight against any team in the world.”
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