14/05/2014 12:00
Portugal’s veteran Valdir Sequeira believes in chances of home success
2015 CEV Volleyball European Championship - Men
Porto, Portugal, May 13, 2014. With only a couple of days left before the start of the second-round qualifier at Vila do Conde, Portugal’s players can’t wait for the competition to start. On Friday they will play Austria in the first of three matches coming up this weekend and whereby they will start their quest for making the Final Round of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European Championship – Men.
32-year old Valdir Sequeira (pictured) is one of the most experienced players on the roster of the team, with 200 caps so far in international matches: “We can’t wait to start and we know that our first match with Austria is extremely important. We want to play our best and fully exploit the home advantage this weekend, thereby getting the right edge and putting a lot of pressure on our opponent right from the beginning of the competition. It would be good to get eight points out of this first tournament since this would add some pressure on the shoulders of the Finnish players before the second round robin scheduled for next week in Vantaa. This way we would improve our chances to claim a good result also once we play away. I know that the match with Finland will be very difficult; we shall keep maximum focus and concentration and try to avoid any mistakes. There are still some aspects in our game that we need to improve on, also due to changes on the roster. However, I am confident and I believe that we are on the right track,” he says.
Team Portugal will play the first of two round robin tournaments this coming weekend at Vila do Conde before the competition resumes next week in Vantaa, Finland. The winners of this double round robin will claim a ticket to the Final Round of the Championship to be co-hosted next year by Bulgaria and Italy.
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