Cuba Defeated Egypt in
Straight sets
 Cairo,
Egypt, June 29, 2007-: Cuba regained their hopes of gaining the
second position of the intercontinental round pool C after their
victory over Egypt in straight sets (25-22, 25-20, 25-20) in the
first match of the sixth weekend of the 2007 World league at
Cairo Stadium Complex in Cairo, Egypt on Friday. Cuba used their
dominance by the net through the tall middle blocker who made a
great barrier against the Egyptian attacks to bring the
important victory against the Egyptians who were out of form
although the great support from the big attendance of
spectators. Cuba raised their points to 17 points form a win
loss ratio of 6-5, while Egypt kept their position at the bottom
of the pool with 11 points.
Egypt started the match with the main line up which included the
Libero Wael El Aidy and included the Italian based professional
setter Abdalla Abdel Salam, the right attacker Ahmed Salah, the
middle blockers Mohamed El Sayed and Hossam Shaarawy, the wing
spikers Hamdy El Safi and Saleh Fathy. Cuba played also with the
outstanding players including the libero Keibir Gutierrez, the
setter Tomas Aldazabal with Michael Sanchez, Odelvis Dominco,
Roberlandy Simon, Oriol Camejo and Yoandri Diaz.
Egypt played fast volleyball in the first part of the first set
and used the strong spikes of Ahmed Salah from position 2 which
allowed Egypt to lead 8-5 by the first technical timeout. Cuba
regained their dominance by the net as usual using the talent
centers Sanchez and Dominco who deployed their solid block and
used the fast setting to bring the lead 16-12 by the STT. Egypt
players fell in some reception and digging mistakes and this
allowed Cuba to win the first set 25-22.
The second set showed again Cuba using the wing spikers and
securing their backline defense as well as the well known block
to lead all through the set specially after the Egyptians missed
many services. The Egyptian coach Ahmed Zakaria replaced the
opposite star Salah by Gabal when the result reached to 18-12
for Cuba. The Egyptian setter Abdalla Abdel Salam tried to
deceive the Cuban block by the different combinations but most
of the Egyptian spikers were out of form. Cuba continued their
superior performance to win the second set 25-20.
The third set showed the best performance for the Egyptians at
the start when they led 8-5 after a group of spike services from
Abdalla and Salah. The Egyptian coach used the substitutes
Mohamed Abdel Moneim in position 4 and Ali Elian in position 3
and they helped Egypt to maintain their dominance and thus Egypt
reached to 16-16 by the STT. Cuba increased their activity again
as the libero Gutierrez did a good job to bring the first draw
17-17. Again Cuba was better at the end of the set and used
their block to win the set 25-20 and the match in straight sets.
Press Conference
Egypt Team Captain, Hamdy El Safi:
 We
didn’t play bad today but our main weak point was the missing of
many services at the critical time of the match. I think we will
play much better during the next international competitions when
we reach enough to our known performance with the time.
Cuba Team Captain, Pavel Pimienta:
We applied our strategy in this match as we did well through the
three sets in blocking and spiking.
Egypt Head Coach, Ahmed Zakaria:
We studied the Cuban team well before the match but the players
were very exhausted because they didn’t have enough preparations
before the World League. These matches helped us in gaining more
experience before the important African competitions this year.
Cuba Head Coach, Orlando Samuel:
We simply won today due to our superior block> I think we have
to win the second match also in straight sets to get the second
position. |
