Yokohama, Japan, October 4, 2018 - The curtain came down on Argentina captain Emilce Sosa’s international career with a 3-0 (22-25, 20-25, 12-25) win over Mexico at the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship on Thursday, and she was delighted to go out on a high.
Argentina captain Emilce Sosa: I’m very happy with the victory today. We needed to win this match, and our mentality was very good today. We were able to play our volleyball and able to keep to our rhythm and our service went very well, which enabled us to cause Cameroon problems with our attack.
I decided to retire from the national team last year. I wanted to spend a little more time with my family and also take some rest. I have been playing for the national team for eight years and when the coach selected me for this squad I was happy that I would be able to retire at this competition, so I accepted the selection. I wanted to play for my teammates and I wanted to do my best for my country as well.
Argentina coach Guillermo Orduna: It is very important that we were able to finish this competition in this way. It’s not just that we won, it’s also that we were able to show our own play in terms of the mentality, and in terms of tactics we were able to show that we are able to play a high level of volleyball on the court. Today’s win is very important for Argentinian volleyball, Argentina’s national team, and also important for the future of Argentinian volleyball. We did not give up, but rather kept fighting until the end.
‘Mimi’ Sosa, as we call her, has done a great job for us. She was great as a leader and devoted a lot to this team for many years. She’s a great player not just in terms of her technique but also personality and creating morale. She’s an important leader so I want to wish her good luck.
Cameroon captain Christelle Tchoudjang Nana: First of all congratulations to Argentina for their win. Our team lost but in today’s match there were many things for us to learn from. We are here to learn things, and today we had one more lesson, which is good. We just have to continue to work hard.
Cameroon coach Akono Jean Rene Bekono: Congratulations to Argentina. They were able to play their kind of volleyball, but for Cameroon it was very disappointing. Not being able to advance to the second round is very disappointing, partly because we are here to represent Africa in general.
I can only talk about today’s match and not any generalities, but today our mentality was zero. Argentina had a very good mentality and mindset whereas Cameroon had no control in terms of mentality.