Mitja Gasparini celebrates with his team during Slovenia's World League debut
Ljubljana, Slovenia, June 17, 2016 - Despite the victory over Qatar, coach Andrea Giani focuses on the elements that need improvement. He is convinced that Slovenia will learn from the mistakes made in the third set and improved their game during the tournament as the team will be able to spend more time playing together.
Andrea Giani, coach of Slovenia: “Our strength is in good serve, block and attack. But we did not have many opportunities to train, because we started preparing for the event only in May. The last match we played together was the final match of the European Championships last year. The importance of this match was to learn from it and move forward. For the players this was a very emotional game as they played at their home. For us the most important things are to stay focused and keep the attitude. In the third set we were more erratic with spikes. In the fourth set we learnt from our mistakes and finish the match with a win.”
Roberto Piazza, coach of Qatar: “In the first set we made some easy mistakes. At the first technical time-out it was 8-7 for Slovenia and then in the second it was already 16-11. We made four stupid mistakes. With this type of mistakes we cannot play on the same level as Slovenia. We do not do these mistakes when we practice. Today the players were a little bit emotional as this was the first game in the World League for them. In the second set we regained our forces. In the third set the Slovenians were erratic and we took the advantage of that. I need to accept this result, but I am sure that my team can play better.”
Danijel Koncilja, middle Blocker of Slovenia: “We could hardly wait for the game to begin. We started the match well. Only in the third set we lost concentration, but we managed to regain our forces in the fourth set and we managed to close the match with ease.”
Bojan Djukic, Wing Spiker of Qatar: “First of all I would like to thank the Slovenian team, they were much better. We started the match a little bit nervous or even too eager to play our best. But as the match went on we played better and better. That reflected mostly in the third set when Slovenians' play dropped a little bit. We took advantage of this and played especially well in attack. When we made the difference it was a lot easier for us to play.”