Tokyo, Japan, June 1, 2016 – France coach Laurent Tillie admitted that his side felt pressure and made them lose their momentum in the third set, while Australia coach Roberto Santilli was disappointed that their great performance in the match could not earn them points.
France coach Laurent Tillie: “I'm very honoured to win today's game. Sometimes when you win the first two sets, you become pressured about getting the third and that is what happened. We lost our momentum in the third set. We did win 3-1 and got the three points so that is good. We need at least two more wins to qualify. In a tournament like this mental toughness is important.”
France captain Benjamin Toniutti: “We can be very proud today. It was an amazing deuce situation in the fourth set. That was the first time in my life to see that. Carroll was good for Australia and we could not stop him.”
France player Kevin Le Roux: “We played well up to the second set and in the third they disrupted our play. We could not do what we wanted to do and play our volleyball. My serve worked well in today’s match, but it does not always happen this way.”
Australia coach Roberto Santilli: “I hope people enjoyed the match today. It was very interesting. Sometimes volleyball is beautiful because you don't know what will happen. My players put their hearts on this game. It's a pity we played this game and did not get any points. We have three games left and will try to win all three of them.”
Australia captain Thomas Edgar: “This was a really important match for both squads. I'm proud of the way our boys fought. We delivered in the third set and fought hard in the fourth. Today's match has set us up going into the last three matches.”
Australia player Paul Carroll: “The disappointing thing about this is that if we play this way against any team, then we will win. France are one of the best teams in the world. If we played like this against Iran or any team, we would have a chance to win. We are proud of our performance.”