Daniele Santarelli: We have a great quarterfinal ahead of us

Head coaches and players attended a press conference held at the Andaz Hotel in China’s Macau Special Administrative Region.

Daniele Santarelli, head coach of the Turkish Women’s National Volleyball Team, said in his remarks that the teams are very evenly matched and that a great quarterfinal awaits them. Expressing his belief that it will be a volleyball spectacle, Santarelli said, “I hope every team gives it their all. I believe the teams that deserve to be here will compete.”

Emphasizing that they expect a “different kind of quarterfinal” against Canada, Santarelli said, “I congratulate the teams, coaches, and players for making it this far, and I extend my thanks to them. For us, the match against Canada will be a different kind of quarterfinal. Although I’ve probably played against Giovanni millions of times over the past decade, it’s always a great rivalry. We’re happy to be here, and I hope we can showcase our best volleyball,” he said.

HEAD COACHES’ COMMENTS

Canada Head Coach Giovanni Guidetti said, “This is our first VNL final, so we’re very excited to be here. We’re proud to be here alongside the world’s best teams. We want to continue enjoying every match, learning from every match, and competing at the highest possible level,” he said.

Japan’s Turkish Head Coach Ferhat Akbaş noted that they were honored to be here as the Japanese team in the VNL finals and continued:

“We’ll do our very best against Brazil. Brazil is a great opponent that has taught us a lot; we’re constantly improving by playing against them. We went through a challenging yet enjoyable process to reach the finals, and now we’ll come together to put on a great performance in front of all the viewers and fans.”

Italy Head Coach Julio Velasco said, “All matches in the finals are tough, but for now we’re focusing only on the first match. If we advance, we’ll think about the second match afterward. Our team is in good shape. We played the first three matches with different players, but now all our players are on the roster for this final, so we’re very happy and ready.”

Netherlands Head Coach Felix Koslowski said:

“This is our second time here, and once again we’re facing a fantastic opponent. We went through a tough process to earn the right to come to Macau and compete. We’ve earned the opportunity to play against a team that has perhaps been the best in the world for the last two or two and a half years. Yes, this will be a major test for us, but we’re still a young team. We have a lot to learn from Italy, but of course, we want to do our very best and deliver a top-level performance.”

The press conference concluded with a group photo session.