Portugal suffers the home loss in Pool D of 2012 FIVB World League – Volleyball News
The city of Guimarães in Portugal provided the backdrop for a close match between Argentina and hosts Portugal on Sunday.
The visiting squad displayed better performance and settled for victory. Portugal captured only one frame in four-set affair and suffered the loss. The final scores were 1-3 (18-25, 18-25, 26-24, 21-25).
It was the ninth consecutive defeat for Portugal in the competition, while Argentina improved to 5-4 in Pool D of the 2012 FIVB World League.
Hosts were supported by top-gun Alexandre Ferreira, who up a great effort and contributed 15 points. However, the team could not use it for its advantage and lost the match. For Argentina, Cristian Poglajen performed amazingly well and charted 14 points.
Portugal had dropped seven matches in row before taking on Argentina in the fourth leg of the tournament. Therefore, the hosts did not post a scare on the visiting squad. The Argentinean men jumped out of the gate and set tone for a great competition. They
formed good combinations and promptly built a lead. Home squad trailed behind but struggled to catch up with the opponents. Nonetheless, Argentina did not give a chance to Portugal to take lead and seized first-set win at 25-18.
Portugal had the support of an enthusiastic crowd, which encouraged the team to take a good start in the following set. Despite great resistance, hosts managed to score points and went up at the first technical timeout (8-5). Meanwhile, Argentina incorporated
variety of attacks and strengthened its defence line to stop Portugal right away. Gradually, the visitors bounced back in the game and pushed the hosts behind. They improved to 2-0 in the match by winning second set with identical score of 25-18.
Following the loss of two sets in row, Portugal finally managed to win third set with a slight margin of two points, 26-24. However, Argentina dominated the fourth set and sent 25-21 on board to claim the match with 3-1 ratio.
The Portuguese head coach Flavio Gulinelli looked visibly disappointed at the press conference. He stated, "It’s hard to comment on this match. In the first set, we played very anxious and afterwards we felt the pressure of Argentina’s serve. We re-entered
in the match on the third set. The relation serve-block-defence was momentarily there, but we failed a lot on the side out.”
He further added, “As I already said, the set only ends at 25 and we still need much work to solve certain situations. We can’t talk about age because Argentina is also a young team. There is a lack of attitude and mentality that we need to change because
we need to have the will to win."
On the other hand, Argentinean coach Juan Manuel Barrial expressed delight about match victory. He praised the good effort of his player and regarded it as an important victory for Argentina.
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