Betim, Brazil, October 31, 2015 - After a win for the books, one that earned them a World Championship medal, UPCN captain Filardi and coach Armoa underlined the same main feature for the team - their spirit. “I have a team of champions”, the coach added.
Javier Filardi, UPCN San Juan captain: “It’s unbelievable. The game seemed impossible to reverse. We were very tired, we are worn out after many tough games and when we were trailing 2-0, in your head you start to hear ‘OK, it’s over’. But right there, our hearts beat our minds. We have an amazing team spirit, we always fight as one and there is our biggest strength - in our hearts. We stayed calmed when things weren’t on our side and kept thinking on the next ball.”
Peyman Akbari, Paykan Tehran coach: “We lost a very bad way on the semifinals and I think psychologically we were not ready for today. Nevertheless, we were 2-0 ahead and my players thought they had it. We had beaten them 3-0 on pool play and maybe they thought it was going to be easy. But you need three sets to win, not two. We made mistakes from the third set onwards and that costed us the game.”
Fabián Armoa, UPCN San Juan coach: “They dominated us at the beginning, but then we ruled the game. It doesn’t matter how a match starts, it’s about how it ends. We tried to improve on attack with the substitutions (Guzmán and Brajkovic), we needed to be strong there to reduce the distance with Paykan. Luckily, it worked. I must say I always thought we could lose it, but we kept struggling and managed to improve even when we were down. It’s clear now - I have a team of champions. They have the heart to win.”