France's big serves damaged the reception of Mexico
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 9, 2016 – French coach Laurent Tillier was pleased with the level of concentration shown by his side and the kind of pressure applied from the service line against Mexico on Tuesday.
Laurent Tillie, Coach of France: It was important for us to come back in the tournament. Of course the difference of level is back in our favour. What is nice this morning is that we stayed focused and we maintained the pressure on service and defence. It was an important win for us for our recovery. Our goal is always to improve from this group. We knew that it would be difficult, so now I am ready to fight just day by day and try to play better and better, and find a solution to go to the next round.
Benjamin Toniutti, Captain of France: It’s a good result for us because in the first match we played really bad and we wanted to win our first match in the Olympic Games, so we kept our concentration and that was the key in this game. The Olympic Games is the best event for any athlete. It’s good to play our best volleyball and to give our best for our country and our sport, so we will fight until the end.
Nicolas Le Goff, Player of France: It was an important victory today. We lost our first match against Italy and now we are still fighting to be in the quarterfinals. We started off slow and we did not see that drive in the last match because we were a little bit stressed, but hopefully it will get better and better. I hope we will find again our team spirit.
I work to be really good in block and attack. I work to be good in every aspect of the game. I do not want to finish this competition with some regrets. This is my first Olympics so I want to go as far as possible.
Jennia Grebennikov, Player of France: It was very important for us to find this aggressiveness after our loss to Italy. Today we played a really good game, we were aggressive and I am happy that we played like that. We were very focused because we want to win and advance to the quarterfinals. We enjoy it on the court and we always try to do our best. Our mentality is to just enjoy and play like a winner. We don’t need to have pressure because it’s the Olympic Games, we need to play this tournament and we worked four years to be here, so we have to be happy and play like we did before.
Jorge Azair, Coach of Mexico: We had a bad start and couldn’t manage their serves in the first and second sets, floating or jumping. It was difficult. I tell my players to be aggressive and not to be intimidated by any opponent. We have to go out and play to win. I think they stayed with the first match we won against Brazil in their minds. We are in a win-win situation. We are gaining experience and don’t need to go out respecting the rivals too much.
Jorge Barajas, Player of Mexico: We know that France is a first level team and the match is a learning experience for us. We need to adjust to that kind of powerful serves. Our reception was not good and the difference today compared to the match against Brazil, is that playing the Brazilians we enjoyed and had nothing to lose. Many today felt the pressure of thinking about our chances of winning.