Pool H - Milano

Orlando  Blackood, head coach Cuba
We are conscious we will be facing two very strong teams. Serbia in particular is always a great contender for medals in the big events.

Jorge Lopez, head coach Mexico
It is the first time in history that we are through to the Second Round. We know Serbia and Cuba are well above us, but we are playing well and hope to maintain our highly-effective serve in order to make it tough for them. We will keep on dreaming.

Igor Kolacevic, head coach Serbia
I have great respect for Cuba and Mexico, this year we’ve already faced Cuba  many times, whereas it will be our first match ever against Mexico. We will do our best: we are aiming for the Third Round.

Pool M - Milano

Philippe Blain, head coach France
The Pool is a tough one obviously, because there are only good teams at the World Championship. We remain focused on our performance and hope to go on like this.

Tatsuya Ueta, head coach Giappone
We played some very intense matches where we battled right until the end. The Second Round will also be very tough, but we’re improving day after day and we will try our hardest to qualify for the Third Round.

Flavio Leoni, head coach Argentina
We are very proud to be here. The First Round was difficult and now we face another two strong opponents such as France and Japan.

Pool L - Ancona

Alan Knipe, head coach Usa
First of all, I would like to congratulate all the national teams qualified for this second round, that can guarantee a high technical level: the main goal is to maintain  the constant play level. The fact that the Usa team had shown a great feeling with the Olympic games, but it doesn’t seem to feel as comfortable with the World Championship isn’t planned: it just depends on the way players co-operate and create an homogeneous group.

Peter Nonnenbroich, head coach Cameroon
It is a great success for us to be here. It has been surprising to conquer this second round with a completely new team, composed by players that have worked hard to achieve this goal. We will do our best to get to the third round and go on with this adventure. The only risk is to suffer for the lack of international experience of some players compared to other international champions, but for Africa, a continent where volleyball is the second national sport, this is a huge chance to attract sponsors and new supporters that at the moment aren’t helping us.
Milan Hadrava, assistant coach Czech Republic
It is important to play well, and guarantee a great show to the spectators that are coming to the Palarossini Venue. We don’t think we are the best team in this World Championship but we wishes to reach a good quality level and to enter in the final ten teams. I suppose there aren’t going to be any surprises for the podium, but nobody can predict what is going to happen and who is going to win, because there had been so many surprises up to now.

Pool N - Ancona

Bernardo Rezende head coach Brazil
In the first round we suffered a lot both against Spain and Cuba, and the latter deserved to win because of their good playing level. This second round will be very competitive: we have to face a very hard tournament composed by the three teams that won the podium at the last World Championship. Surprisingly, one of the three is not going to be included in the final 12. We need to go on and “survive” and maybe playing against Cuba in another important moment of the competition. In other occasions we came across physical problems and accidents: we don’t look for alibies we just need to go on, and to create something better that will allow us to win.

Silvano Prandi, head coach Bulgaria
We can’t talk about surprises, but we are here to compete against other teams. After the two macthes we previously lost, I hope my players will not feel upset but  full of adrenaline. I think we lost against the France but we maintained a good playing level but against the Check Republic we didn’t play enough well. We know that there are great teams in this World Championship, and we have the strongest will to demonstrate our value.