Will the US team be able to outdo Puerto Rico in the last week of preliminaries?
The 2011 FIVB World League has successfully covered the five flights of preliminary robin round.
World’s 16 best teams split in four pools demonstrated breath-taking performances and showcased their mesmerizing skills in front of the international audience. The last week of prelims is scheduled to start on coming Thursday, June 30.
Each team will appear in two matches and final ranking of prelims will be uncovered. Four top teams of the tournament have already been confirmed for the final round, while rest of the final round qualifiers will be decided at the end of sixth week game.
In Pool A of the 2011 FIVB World League, Team USA is set to take on Puerto Rico on July 1st and 2nd. Native American City Long Beach will serve as the host of these two matches. The Walter Pyramid Competition Hall in Long Beach will set up the field of play
and excellent arrangements have been done by USA Volleyball to host the important matches.
The head coach of U.S. team, Alan Knipe said, “What I’m most excited about is that these will truly be home matches for us. We don’t have to fly.”
U.S. side will certainly have a great advantage of playing at home.
In the first five weeks of the preliminary round, Americans have compiled an overall score of 6-4 and they are ranked at number 3 position in Pool A. They started the campaign by playing against Poland in the first week. Playing away from home and in the
presence of foreign audience affected their performance and they lost one match in first week.
The boys around Alan Knipe worked out a great performance against Puerto Rico in the second week and made a clean sweep over struggling Puerto Ricans.
Third week brought World Number 1 Brazil in front of U.S. team. The Olympic Champions put up a great effort and broke the winning streak of defending champion Brazil. The Brazilians pulled off success in first match but couldn’t avoid the loss in second
match. Victory against Team Brazil really put a new soul and enthusiasm in American players.
In week 4, U.S. team once against put up against Polish side. Both teams claimed one match apiece. American squad did the same in fifth week, while taking on Brazil for the second time during 2011 FIVB World League Prelims. Brazil won the first match and
U.S. took revenge in the second match.
Now that U.S. team will clash with Puerto Rico. The team is looking forward to another wonderful performance. Puerto Rico has not been able to win any match during the prelims, which also serves as an advantage for American side.
Nonetheless, the skipper of U.S. team, William Reid Priddy expressed his views about the challengers in next spell of matches. He stated that Puerto Rico is not a bad team and U.S. players need to be ready for a cracking fight. Priddy urged his players to
continue improving, in order to hold off Puerto Ricans.
USA has bright prospects to brush Puerto Ricans aside. Anyhow, the world has to wait and see until the two teams contest their capabilities in the court.
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