Last night in Nanjing, Brazil broke their own record by notching their 12th FIVB World Grand Prix title (94,96,98,04-06,08,09,13,14,16 &17). Behind all these, there is a man who has been taking the helms of the national team since 2003, driving the team to champion the World Grand Prix year after year- Ze Roberto Guimarães (9 out of 12 WGP gold medals winning Head Coach of Team Brazil). Amongst those gold medals, Roberto admitted that the last night’s one is the most challenging one to media “Globoesporte”.
Feelings about the victory
-“This is the ninth Grand Prix I won with the team, it was the most complicated of all, in terms of logistics, the games, we were almost disqualified. We went through complicated roads and took the title. We were almost eliminated from the tournament for twice and China helped us.” – said José Roberto.
We recall that in the final pool stage, Brazil was first defeated by China by 1-3 and then won The Netherland in 5 sets. Their chance to make it to the semi final hinged on whether China can win over Netherlands which could have won but let 4 match points go pass.
Strongest lineup not in place
Due to varied reasons, several players including Gabi, Leia, Olympic champions Thaisa, Fê Garay, Fabiana, Jaqueline, Dani Lins and Sheilla, some injured, some retired were not in the troop. Roberto had to implement a renovation, with the team since 2005. Eventually, there came three key players who brought the team the triumph, namely, Natalia (MVP of the tournament), Tandara and Bia (Anna Beatriz Correa).
– “It was important for this group of playersto play against these players from the Netherlands, China, Serbia and Italy, to understand how this international world is different from the Super League. All players can enter at any time and turn the game, change the context. That’s what we saw. Those who were in the bank gave new energy to the team, “said Roberto.
Up and coming
Now the upcoming challenge for the Brazilian team is the South American Championship this month, which determines the qualifier of the World Championship next year, also the only title the Brazillian has yet conquered.
