Brazil will meet Poland in the battle for the gold medal at the 2014 FIVB Men's World Championship
Katowice, Poland, September 20, 2014 – Three-time defending champions will face hosts Poland in the gold medal match of the 2014 FIVB Men’s World Championship as the South American giant continues seeking an unprecedented fourth consecutive title in the history of the competition.
The top world-ranked Brazil survived a big scare to edge France 3-2 (25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-12) in the first semi final encounter played in front of a full house at Spodek Arena of Katowice on Saturday
In the second match of the penultimate day of action, the fourth world-ranked Poland defeated Germany 3-1 (26-24, 28-26, 23-25, 25-21) to gain the promotion to their second gold medal match.
Poland, crowned forty years ago in Mexico City when the competition was played under a round-robin format, entered the finals in 2006 losing the decisive match to Brazil by a 3-0 score in Japan.
Both Brazil and Poland have suffered one defeat during the tournament. While the Brazilians succumbed to Poland 3-2 in their third round contest, the home side lost to United States 3-1 in the second round. The two teams are tied with 11 wins apiece.
“Tomorrow we want to make history making everything possible to put the name of Brazil in the history of volleyball,” Captain Bruno Rezende expressed. “It is our chance to do something that never has been done before.”
France Coach Laurent Tillier expressed his disappointment after the match but at the same time he said it is time to continue forward.
“We have to swallow this loss but need to keep improving,” Tillier said. “We have to try to win the bronze medal as we want to continue also our road to the Rio Olympics.”
"We showed once again that we are a team with character," Poland captain Michal Winiarski commented at the post-match press conference. "I am looking forward to a dream final".
“I am very proud of my team,” said Vital Heynen, the Belgian coach of Germany, “but Poland deserved to win.”
France and Germany will play for the bronze medal in the first match scheduled on Sunday.
In the meeting for fifth place played at Atlas Arena in Lodz, Olympic champions Russia outclassed Iran in straight sets (25-19, 25-21, 25-18).
Results - September 20, 2014
Poland 3, Germany 1
Once again Mariusz Wlazly topped the Polish scorers with 22 points that included three aces and one block. Mateusz Mika added 17 of his own while Karol Klos contributed six blocks among his 14 points.
Germany’s Denys Kaliberda, Gyorgy Grozer and Christian Fromm finished with 18, 14 and 12 points respectively in the losing effort.
Key points
•Poland had won their previous semi final match 3-1 against Bulgaria in 2006
•The home team improved to an 11-1 win-loss record for the tournament
•Poland have defeated Germany in their last four matches in world championships
The fourth world-ranked Poland will challenge three-time defending champions in the deciding contest on Sunday at Spodek Arena in Katowice.
Brazil 3, France 2
Ricardo Lucarelli Santos scored 22 points, including four blocks, to lead the well fought Brazilian victory. Wallace Souza followed with 17 while Lucas Saatkamp and Sidnei Dos Santos added 16 and 13, respectively, with the latter also recording four blocks.
France’s Earvin Ngapeth finished with 21 points in the losing effort while Kevin Tillie (13), Mory Sidibe (11) and Kevin Le Roux (10) also finished with double digits in the charts.
Key points
•Brazil scored via seven blocks in the first set
• France’s three losses in the tournament have been by 3-2
• First match between these two teams that goes to the five-set limit
Saatkamp landed 14 of hits 22 kills for an average of 63.6 % while Souza scored 16 times from 28 swings for a percentage of 57.1. Lucarelli Santos was a close third with 52.9 (18-from-34).
Russia 3, Iran 0
Russia swept Iran 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-18) in the match for fifth place at Atlas Arena in Lodz with the winners taking a clear advantage in attacks (42-33) and aces (6-0) while trailing in blocks by a slight margin (6-5).
Key points
•Russia finished in fifth place for second consecutive world championship
•Russia were left out of the medals for third time in a row
•Iran finished in sixth place after ending 19th in 1998 and 2010
Nikolay Pavlov led four Russian players with double figures in the scoring charts with 14 points. Artem Volvich added 11 while Dmitriy Muserskiy and Alexey Spiridonov each charted 10 in the victory. Milad Ebadipour topped Iran with nine points.