Defending champion Brazil face off USA in Pool A – 2011 FIVB World League
Brazil brushed aside the American Men’s National Volleyball Squad in great match on Friday, June 24. U.S. team couldn’t profit the advantage of playing at home and received 1-3 (21-25, 20-25, 25-21, and 19-25) defeat from Brazil.
Around 4,000 spectators showed up at the Reynolds Sports Centre in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Brazil is defending the FIVB World League Title this year. So far, the South American Team has shown a great intent to secure the title in their custody for another year.
Brazil has lost only one match in the preliminary robin round of 2011 FIVB World League, which makes it the top team of Pool A.
Brazil started the first set with easy controlled action. Bernardo Rezende, the head coach of Brazilian squad, had formulized a wonderful plan for his team. Following the instructions of coach, they hit some great serves in the opening phase of the game.
U.S. team was required to offer solid reception to the fast-moving spikes from opposite side.
Ryan Miller and David Lee formed good combo, in order to kill the attack attempts of Brazilian side. However, accuracy in hits was main component of Brazil’s better status in the first set. Brazil’s Murilo Endres showed the physical strength of his forearms
and helped his team capture the opening set of the match.
Team Brazil won the first set with a display of tremendous potential and tactful play. They continued with success in the second set as well and played confidently. U.S., on the other hand, was down with reception errors.
The ball frequently landed on their side and Brazilian score soared up. U.S. team was dragged under huge pressure and committed too many unforced mistakes. The situation remained the same up till the finish of second set. Brazilians led the score and extended
their lead to 2-0 by winning second set.
U.S. team was totally infuriated with the loss of two sets in row. They attacked aggressively in third set and tried to come out of the blues. Meanwhile, the local audience backed-up them and raised encouraging slogans for them. The hard work paid off and
U.S won third set of the match.
Anyhow, happiness was short-lived as Brazil bounced back in fourth set and retook the control of operations. Convincing attack attempts and solid defence allowed them to announce match victory in fourth set. U.S team dropped fourth set with a margin of 6
points.
William Reid Priddy, the captain of U.S. team acknowledged that too many unforced mistakes caused them a lot of damage and paved a way of victory for Brazil. In Priddy’s opinion, much more hard work was required to beat team like Brazil. On the other hand,
Brazil’s captain Gilberto Godoy praised the good effort of American players. He said that next match against U.S.A. will be harder to win. Brazil will put up against U.S. on Saturday in the second match of fifth week.
The mentor of American team, Alan Knipe congratulated Brazil for clinching success. He expressed his views in the following manner, “They played hard and dug a lot of balls and got a lot of points in transition.”
His Brazilian counter-part, Bernardo Rezende stated, “I thought we played better than when we played the U.S. in Brazil. The U.S. has been playing better in the second match throughout the tournament. We need to learn from the third set.”
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