World League Final Round – An Overview
The Intercontinental Round of the FIVB World League reached its close on Sunday, July 1, 2012. The teams that have qualified for the final round of the tournament will be heading to Sofia, Bulgaria which will act as a host to the matches between the top five teams as well as the home team Bulgaria. The final round of the championship is scheduled to start from July 4 and last till July 8. The matches will be played at the Arena Armeec Sofia which can hold a total of 12,000 spectators.
The teams that have qualified for the final round include four pool leaders and a fifth team that is the best runner’s up among all the four pools. The sixth team is Bulgaria, which gets a free pass into the final round of the tournament for being the home team.
At the end of the Intercontinental round, the leader of Pool A is Cuba while Pool B is topped by Poland. Pool C is led by USA while Germany leads Pool D. The best runner’s up in all the four pools is the Brazilian squad.
Of all the six teams that have qualified for the final round of the tournament, Germany stands at the top of the rankings with 30 points. These points have been earned after winning 10 matches and losing only two. Poland ranks number two as they have been able to secure 29 points after 10 wins and two losses. The difference in points between Germany and Poland arise due to the difference in their set ratio. Germany has a higher set ratio as of 1.178 as they have won 33 sets while lost 10. In contrast to this, the set ratio of Poland is 1.099 after winning an equal number of 33 sets but losing 13.
Cuba stands at the third position with 28 points after grabbing 10 victories and suffering two losses. Similarly, the difference in points between Cuba, Germany and Poland arises due to a lower set ratio of Cuba which is 1.095. This is because Cuba won 32 sets but lost 16. USA finds itself in the fourth position among the qualified teams with 26 points secured after the end of the Intercontinental Round of the tournament. USA earned these points after winning nine matches and losing three. The best runner’s up among all the pools is Brazil who is also at the fifth rank with 26 points. Brazil has secured the points by winning eight matches and losing four.
Bulgaria is at the sixth place in the rankings with 22 points which they earned after winning eight matches and losing four. Interestingly, if Bulgaria had not been the home team it would not have qualified for the final round of the tournament as France has been able to secure 24 points after the end of the Intercontinental Round.
The defending champions of the tournament are out of the running as Russia did not make it into the Final Round based on insufficient points. Russia, which won the tournament last year in Poland were able to secure 20 points by the end of the Intercontinental Round that ended their progress in the tournament.
The favourites for the title of the championship are both Brazil and USA. USA won the title in 2008 while Brazil was able to bag the tournament in both 2009 and 2010. However, the present ranking and the form of the German squad makes them a siutable contender for the top spot in the championship. Therefore, both USA and Brazil will have to look out for Germany and be competitive while playing them in the tournament.
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