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Guadalajara, Mexico, August 28, 2009 - With
everything ready at the Pan American Volleyball
Stadium for the celebration of the last phase of
the NORCECA Group I Play-offs, which is a
qualifying event for the Italy 2010 Men’s World
Championship, the four technical directors
expressed their respective goals as they face
three intense confrontations taking place from
the 28th to the 30th of this month.
Here their statements during the press
conference:
Glenn Hoag, head coach from Canada:
“Obviously, this is a very important moment
because we’re playing for the last two passes to
the world championship. The other three teams
have worked very hard to get here. I believe
Mexico and the Dominican Republic are a little
stronger than Panama but, we have to think that
all the rivals are strong.”
Jacinto Campechano, head coach from the
Dominican Republic:
“Our main objective is to qualify; this is
something historic for us since we have only
been to the world championship in 1974, which
was, incidentally, celebrated in Tijuana. We
were there as guests but now we’re competing for
a ticket, which would be something great if we
make it a reality. That is how four years of
hard work would come to a close for us.”
Jose A. Remon, head coach from Panama:
“We are hoping to classify, of course, and to
perform well, although we recognize that our
team is the weakest of the four candidates for
the two passes. We’ve made a great effort to
build an excellent team and to make it here. In
fact, being part of this play-off is a triumph
for Panamanian volleyball, which needs more
government support.”
Jorge Miguel Azair, head coach from Mexico:
“The teams are well-balanced; it will be a very
even competition. We have put some serious
training time, including the two games with
Germany for qualification to the World League;
we lost but it served us very well to help us
make some adjustments. What happened with Ivan
Contreras was a small injury; tomorrow we’ll
determine if he’ll be in the opening game or if
it’s better for him to play the second game.
It’s been a long time since we qualified for a
world championship and both the technical team
and the players are hungry to be there.”
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