U.S. Team fails to qualify for semi-finals of 2011 FIVB World League – Volleyball News
The Olympic Champion U.S. team received a 1-3 (25-15, 22-25, 22-25, and 15-25) defeat from Brazil in the semi-final qualifying match on Thursday, July 7.
Team U.S.A was defeated by the Russians in the opening match of the Final Round on Wednesday. The Americans were unable to shake of the defeat and next fell victim to the Brazilian strike. Brazil put up a classy show of volleyball and dominated their opponents
at Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland.
Players around Head Coach Alan Knipe were off to a good start in the game. They served powerfully with Clay Stanley and used Mathew Anderson for attack. Lee David and Ryan Miller dismissed many of opponents’ attack attempts and saved important points. The
wonderful combination of attack and defence enabled them to secure the opening set of the match with a fair margin of 10 points. However, the next three sets of the game brought hard luck for the Americans. Team Brazil suddenly came out strong and denied the
American’s dominance in the match. Brazil won three straight sets and edged out the U.S. Team.
U.S. captain, William Reid Priddy regretted the loss of the important match. He stated, “We are disappointed as we wanted to remain in this tournament and qualify for the semi-finals. We have one more match to play here and against Russia we want to take
as much experience as possible. Regarding the competition venue – it’s a nice facility but it looks like it’s difficult to see the court lines because of some strange decisions of the referees.”
The American Head Coach praised the great effort of the Brazilian team. He though his squad could have dealt with the pressure of the match. He added, “Being honest, I thought we could have done better than that, but playing against Brazil is always hard.”
On the other hand, the Captain of the Brazilian team, Gilberto Godoy Filho (Giba), was happy to beat the Olympic Champions. Victory helped Brazil reserve a berth in the semi-finals. The team coach of Brazil, Bernardo Rezende, was all smiles at the end of
the match. He was simply delighted by a great come-back from his team after losing the first set. Rezende said he has a lot of respect for the American team. He acknowledged that they know how to control the game and play with intelligence. However, Brazil
proved to be the better side and managed to dismantle thier American competitors.
Team USA is scheduled to take on Cuba in the next match on Friday, July 8, while Brazil will come across Russia.
Tags: