Yaounde, Cameroon, July 9, 2017 – France’s coach Felix Andre compared his team’s FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix 2017 match at Cameroon to the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle boxing event held in Africa.
Felix Andre, coach of France: "Cameroon are the team I dreaded the most when we were coming here, the best team on paper, and in Africa. We are happy to have won all matches. Our match against Cameroon was like the George Foreman vs. Muhammad Ali boxing match. For the past two months we have been on camp and at competitions with no time for family and friends and I am happy. I have never played in front of such great spectators and for me it was really overwhelming."
Jean-Rene Akono, coach of Cameroon: "Our poor performance is due to our little preparation for the competition, compared to France that had a camp and two competitions. We can say they were better prepared than we were. If you ask what went wrong in the fourth set, where we lost concentration, we had a few injuries, we have a player gone to the army and another at school. Not all our players were present. However, I am satisfied with the performance of my players and I think we are improving."