Tokyo, Japan, September 21, 2015 - Argentina coach Julio Velasco was pleased with how his side rose to the occasion as they beat Japan on Monday.
Argentina coach Julio Velasco: "I'm happy for the victory. Playing Japan at home is not easy. We have lost to only Poland and Russia. We still have to play the USA. We are the best of the second group of teams here - those not vying for the top three places. This is a good improvement for Argentina. It is our best World Cup ever. I hope we can play a better match against Italy tomorrow. This was a difficult match. We had trouble with serve reception."
Japan coach Masashi Nambu: "We had a slow start in the first set. Our reception was not good. We caught up in the middle of the set. Our service was good. We had good moments and some bad ones. We had some success in the third set but our reception was not good. I'm confident our young players will develop their skills by playing against a team like Argentina. We hope they can play better tomorrow. Argentina's middle blockers were quick in moving to the sides. When Ishikawa was blocked it became tougher for Fukatsu to set. We try to play one game at a time here with spirit throughout the tournament. I'm confident the gap between us and the best teams is not that great now."
Argentina captain Luciano De Cecco: "I believe it was a good game. We had some difficult moments but we overcame them. Japan is tough to play at home."
Japan captain Kunihiro Shimizu: "We expected we would have to have a good sideout today. We could not get sideout points and that is why we did not have success. We could break their attacks at times. Their sideout was the problem for us. We need to review about this."
Japan player Masahiro Yanagida: "Our reception was not stable. Our errors gave points to our opponents. We got some points with our service game. We have to fix receptions for tomorrow's game."
Japan player Yuki Ishikawa: "We ere always playing from behind. We would like to start in front. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow. Concentration on reception and sideout for the first half of the match was a problem for me."