Cuban Izquierdo confident on his pupils

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – The coaches of the seven teams taking part in the III U19 Boys’ Pan American Cup expressed their feelings about the chances of their sides one day ahead of the start of the action.

Mario Izquierdo the coach of Cuba, which is the only country among the participants already qualified to this year FIVB U19 World Championship in Tunisia, showed confidence on his boys saying their goal is to win here.

The coaches were asked to comment on their teams during the preliminary inquiry of the teams conducted on Tuesday at NORCECA premises in Santo Domingo.

Mario Raúl Izquierdo (Cuba): “We are here to elevate our game level and evaluate what we have prepared towards the world championship. Our purpose is to take the first place here and to double check our technical and tactical preparation ahead of the event in Tunisia.”

Iván Villarreal (Chile): “Our team has some players with experience at the South American level but is a combination of players born between 2001 and 2004. We are clearly thinking in the South American tournament of youth level but also with the clear intention –like the rest of the teams- of getting one of the two tickets to Tunisia.”

Loren Ricardo Rodríguez (Dominican Republic): "This is a team under a development plan as a platform to launch the new generation of Dominican men's volleyball. We captured 40 athletes in the National Games from which we took the best 12. Our goal is to classify to the worlds and I think we have possibilities taking into account what at this level means the unity of the group and the psychological aspect.”

Lucas Mora Reider (Guatemala): “We are bringing a very young team with most of the players born y 2002-03. Our objective is to keep improving during the competition. Cuba is a very strong team in our pool and Dominican Republic is solid and playing at home. We want to play good and prepare for the Central American Championship next October in El Salvador.”

Gabriela Alarcón (Mexico): "In the last cup we were the champions. This is a new group and there is only one that repeats from the previous edition. We have high expectations of moving to the World Championship. Our concentration was for two weeks in Monterrey but the players are active and fit playing with their clubs in the national championship. "

Jorge Luis Mena (Nicaragua): “We will try our best against the stronger teams like Cuba and Dominican Republic but our focus will be on our Central American rival which is Guatemala. Our team has been training for a full year in preparation for the Central American Cup to take place at the end of August in El Salvador.”

Juan Albarrán (Puerto Rico): “We are going after the ticket. I have some players with experience. Three of them played went to Bahrein and some others played in the last NORCECA tournament. So we are going to battle for the spot. There are some strong teams but anyway we will fight for the pass.”