Brazil qualifies for next round – 2011 FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship: Volleyball
After a shaky start in the 2011 FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship, defending champions Brazil seemed under pressure. However, the home team came out of their slump with two straight wins and found a place in the top-8 teams of the tournament. Brazil was
challenged by Bulgaria in the last match of the preliminary round in Pool A. The two teams got together on Wednesday, August 3 and staged a five-set thriller at the Maracanazinho Gymnasium in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil earned a win by sending 3-2 (23-25, 25-19,
23-25, 25-23, and 15-8) on to the board.
Brazil started the match under pressure and could not counter the Bulgarian lead in the early few minutes. Bulgaria scored well and built a lead of 7-4. Gradually, Brazilian players got better and spiked the ball hard. Lucarelli of Brazil put his team in
lead at 12-11. Afterwards, Brazil led the score for better part. Anyhow, resilient rival Serbia made a quick move near the end of the set and achieved set points before Brazil could do anything. Bulgaria claimed opening set with slight 2-point margin at 25-23.
The hosts tried to cover the deficit in the second set. They grasped the game plan of Serbia and came up with appropriate strategy in the second set. Brazil scored consecutive points and pushed Serbia behind. However, European team reacted and chased the
score. The first tie of scores was seen at 8-all in second set. Serbs tried to hinder the performance of Brazilian team and involved hard-hitting. Brazil, on the other hand, remained remarkably consistent and regained the control of operations. The hard work
paid off and Brazil won the second set (25-19).
Success in second set put good effect on Brazilian team and helped them score well in third set. The local audience also backed-up the team and made huge noise to support the team. Brazil led the scores at first technical break and further maintained the
dominance over Serbia. The overall performance of Brazil was quite satisfactory in third set but ironically enough; the game took a different turn in the end. Serbia came out of nowhere and touched the finish line. Brazil dropped third set with a narrow margin
of two points.
Brazil returned in the game in fourth set. The setter of Brazil, Vitor Dias received huge applause for a great tactful play. He floated the ball in air with perfect timing and also scored points by his tricky bump passes. Serbia trailed behind and suffered
the damage in fourth set. The dead-lock of 2-2 was created as Brazil won fourth set.
Bulgaria achieved an early 4-2 but Brazil reacted quickly and covered the gap. Lucas Loh’s spiking did magic in final set and Brazil managed to capture fifth set at 15-8.
In the next round, Brazil is now grouped in Pool F along with teams from Argentina, Serbia, and India.
Brazilian Coach Leonardo Carvalho stated his thoughts regarding the crucial match. He said: “It was a very high level match, where both teams played really good. I am happy we advanced to the second round. I believe our pool was the tougher of the first
round, as Japan and Bulgaria could have qualified, and that can make the United States and we better prepared for next round”.
The Coach of the Bulgarian team, Nikolay Jeliazkov, commented, “We played a good match and my players have no reason to feel bad with them. We fought until last point. Brazil was better in the deciding points. We need to improve our middle spikes”.
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