Betim, Brazil, October 29, 2015 - For Argentina’s UPCN San Juan, their goal to improve from the bronze medal achieved in 2014 and reach new heights is still plenty at range, despite having lost Pool B top spot against Paykan Tehran. On the other hand, the team from Iran showed lots of pleasure for a “dream” result.
Valerio Vermiglio, Paykan Tehran captain: “Instead of what happened on the previous game, this time we were concentrated from the first point, with the right emotions. They tried to get us nervous when they were under pressure, but we stayed calm. I tried to calm the guys, used my experience for that and we’re at the semifinal with two wins. Now we have to face a very good team like Sada, but for us this is a dream already. Let’s continue dreaming now.”
Javier Filardi, UPCN San Juan captain: “We lost a lot of ground on the first moments of the game and that gave them a great deal of confidence. We had some good runs, but we couldn’t maintain them - it’s normal when you’re at the beginning of a season and we knew this might happen. Nevertheless, tomorrow we will play the game we are aiming to and we’re more than ready. We have to learn from today’s game and go for our goal now. We always want more and we will fight until the last ball tomorrow.”
Peyman Akbari, Paykan Tehran coach: “This match was very important for us. We played against a team with many strong players and it was a beautiful game to watch. We were very strong mentally and that attitude allowed us to control the game. We just went down at the beginning of the third and it’s something we must correct; we can’t relax and think we have the match won in advance.”
Fabián Armoa, UPCN San Juan coach: “Both teams played a very good game on the spirit. It was a very close match, with great moments; they just were able to close the points a little bit better than us. That was the difference. We came here for a medal and this game had no effect on that - tomorrow game is the one we care the most about.”