Berlin, Germany, January 9, 2020 - France are the first team to book a place in the CEV Men's Tokyo Volleyball Qualification final in Berlin. The French team came back from a 0-2 deficit to beat vice-European champions Slovenia 3-2 (13-25, 22-25, 25-14, 25-21, 15-9) on Thursday.
France captain Benjamin Toniutti was ecstatic. “Crazy. I don’t know how we won today. We played like a team and the entrance of Antoine and Yacine was the key I think today. They changed the game. In the first two sets we didn’t find solutions. They were on every ball on the block and defence, so we couldn’t play. And after we changed a little bit the game, with our serve, with the block, it’s amazing how we came back. And now we have to prepare the final.”
France coach Laurent Tillie was equally enthusiastic. “Incredible game. I think we were patient. Slovenia was playing so well, physically with a strong serve, strong blocks, strong attack. They received very well too. So we had no solution, only just trying to stay on the court, just spending time waiting, waiting, waiting. And then the two entries like Louati and Brizard brought a lot of energy and changed the beat. And I think the situation changed and Slovenia had a lot to lose and we had nothing to lose.”
Slovenia captain Tine Urnaut was very disappointed but recognised France's quality in the final three sets of the match. “We were dominating the first two sets, we were dominating on the court and the third set we lost some opportunities for the defence, for counter-attack. We did not lose in the first two sets and France started to play much better. They were doing side-outs easy and they were serving really good. They played better in the last three sets.”
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