Will Cuba still lead Pool A in FIVB Volleyball World League – Men by weekend’s close?
With two rounds of the 2012 FIVB Volleyball World League – Men come to its close; the tournament is entering into its third round with the coming weekend. The matches of the eighth weekend of the tournament will begin from June 22, 2012. A total of 12 teams now remain out of an initial 16 that will battle for the top spots of the championship.
As of now, the leader of the pack in Pool A of the tournament is Cuba. The other teams that make up this pool are Japan, Serbia as well as Russia. The Pool A matches for this weekend will be played in the Russian city of Kaliningrad.
The Cubans have been able to get to the top of the pool after bagging a total of 14 points so far. This comes with a record of five wins and one defeat. Next in line is Serbia as it has secured itself 12 points in all by winning four matches and losing two. The host team comes in the third place in Pool A, with an equal number of victories and defeats. On the other hand, the Japanese have not been able to tally a single win so far and hold only two points.
The Cubans have been able to maintain a consistent performance record throughout the tournament. The last match that they played in the second round of the championship was against the Russian squad in which the Cubans were able to hand out a defeat to their rivals by 3-1. The score board showed the following final set scores: 26-24, 21-25, 25-22 and 25-17.
The coach of the Cuban squad, Orlando Samuels, expressed his feelings at the win by making the following comments, “The boys entered the court with a lot of hunger and desire and never let it down. Today, we dominated in all aspects of the game and while Leon improved during the match, Cepeda was consistent. It was a team victory.”
On the other hand, the coach of the Russian team, Maxim Makhaylov, acknowledged the superior play of the Cubans in the following statement given at the press conference after the match, “We made too many mistakes but you have to give credit to our opponents because they had good reactions.”
The Cubans have not yet lost a match to the Japanese in the World League so far. Judging by the position and the records of the teams, it seems highly unlikely that it will happen over the coming weekend. The Japanese have had a history of weak reception and serves in this World League tournament and if they hope to stand any chance in the championship, Japan will need to step up their game by focusing on those aspects.
Despite the fact that the Russians are in the third place in Pool A currently, the Cubans will need to watch out for them as the matches will be played in the Russian home ground with a lot of fan support. The motivation gained from the home crowd might boost the performance of the Russians and they may become a force to reckon with.
The Serbians have been going good so far and cannot be taken lightly by the Cuban squad. The Cubans will face the Serbians in the first math of the weekend on Friday June 22.
Cuba will need to maintain its focus to still be the leader of the pack by the end of the weekend as it has tough matches ahead.
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