STERN and intimidating as he may seem, Alas Pilipinas head coach Angiolino Frigoni, it turned out, has a soft spot, too.
The 71-year-old Italian mentor fell to the ground when Marck Espejo converted the game-winning block that gave the Philippines its first-ever FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship win, 29-27, 23-25, 25-21, 25-21, against Egypt.
READ Espejo, Bagunas in disbelief as Alas does the improbable
He may appear grumpy and never hesitates to speak his mind, but no other moment in his 13-month tenure made him smile more than yet another major breakthrough in the world stage where he’s won and lost in a long career.
A win in the world stage for the 82nd-ranked Alas seemed unlikely on paper, but Frigoni knew deep in his heart that the Philippines was due for at least one.
“I laid on the ground because I was very happy. This was not just for you and for the Filipinos, but this team was with me for 16 months, and I saw how they improved,” said Frigoni, a two-time world champion himself with Italy.
“I was waiting for them to win one match to show to everybody how we improved in these 16 months. That happened today. I’m very happy for it.
“I am 71 and I went to how many world championships, but every team has a story. Every team has a background, and for me, I had to lay down on the floor because I was so happy.”
With one win in the books, Frigoni made sure to keep his feet on the ground as he stood up from a euphoric winning moment.
Frigoni tempers expectations
The straight-talking coach explained how beating the nine-time African champions won’t put the Philippines among the world’s best in a flash.
But if they can pull off a performance similar to that against Iran,, the Philippines will get its chance to keep on dancing with the world’s best in the knockout stage of world volleyball’s grandest stage.
“Slowly please. We just won today, I don’t know where we’ll be in two days, even with how stable we were today. You have to understand that because today we beat Egypt, and we are the best team in the world, no,” Frigoni said.
“We are the same team as before that sometimes plays very good, sometimes not very good. We have to get stable on this level to try to compete. Once we are stable in this level, we can discuss. But for now, it’s one match only though.”
His gentle reminder to the Filipino fans, “don’t put on the mind of everybody that we are a good team.”
“We played good today. We are very happy that we win today, but we know exactly what we have to improve.”
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