Over 12,000 watch Poland win against Brazil

Lodz and Katowice, Poland, September 16, 2014 - Home favourites Poland and steady France opened the crucial Final Six Round of the 2014 FIVB Men’s World Championship with victories over three-time defending champions Brazil and Germany, respectively, on Tuesday night.

More than 12,000 spectators at Atlas Arena watched the fifth world-ranked Poland battle during five gruelling and thrilling sets to hand Brazil their first loss in the whole tournament by scores of 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 14-25, 25-18, 17-15), while the 13th world-ranked France cruised towards a comfortable victory over No 10 Germany in consecutive sets (25-15, 26-24, 25-22) at Spodek Arena.

France team, considered by many as the most pleasant surprise of the competition, topped their pool for the first two rounds and enjoyed a jump-start in the three-team round robin of Pool G obtaining three valuable points.

The Poland side, which finished one point behind France in the second-round Pool E, snapped the world championship’s 13-match winning streak of a Brazilian team that are seeking an unprecedented fourth title in a row. The home team got two points to one by Brazil from the 3-2 result.

Poland (twice) became the fourth team to score three consecutive five-set victories in the history of the world championships and the first in 32 years since Argentina did it in the 1982 edition. Hungary achieved the feat in 1970 and Poland did it the first time in 1974.

In Wednesday’s action, Germany play against Iran in Pool G while Brazil meet the second-world ranked and Olympic champions Russia in Pool H.

Results - September 16, 2014

            Match             Match Result       Match Player Rating
093     FRA-GER          3-0                        View
094     POL-BRA          3-2                        View
   

France 3, Germany 0

France started off on the right foot scoring a convincing straight-set (25-15, 26-24, 25-22) victory over Germany at Spodek Arena.

Earvin Ngapeth and Antonin Rouzier led the way for the winning side with 20 and 16 points, respectively, while Kevin Tillie added eight points in the victory. Gyorgy Grozer and Denys Kaliberda reached double digits for Germany with 14 and 11 points in the loss.

Key points

•The two teams are 2-2 in head-to-head matches at the world championships
•France’s Antonin Rouzier increased hits leading-scoring points to 182
•France took three out of four meetings against Germany in the 2014 World League

France blanked their opponents 4-0 from the service line while the Germans held the advantage in blocks 10-5.

Poland 3, Brazil 2

In the first of Pool H, hosts Poland 2014 beat the so-far unbeaten Brazil 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 14-25, 25-18, 17-15) behind a terrific offensive performance accomplished by Mariusz Wlazly.

More than 12,000 cheered for Wlazly as he tied a tournament-high 31 points to lead the victory over the powerful three-time defending champions and No 1 ranked Brazilians. Karol Klos and Mateusz Mika each contributed 13 points in the triumph.

Luiz Felipe Marques topped Brazil with 17 points, followed by Ricardo Lucarelli Santos and Leandro Vissoto with 16 apiece and Lucas Saatkamp with 15 points.

Key points

•It was the third consecutive win in five-sets for the Polish team
•Poland now lead 3-2 the head-to-head meetings with Brazil in 2014
•Both teams have now 4-4 record in their matches at world championships

It was a close battle all the way as the winners held the advantage in positive spikes 57-55 and made 27 unforced errors to 28 by the losers. The Brazilians held the favourable margin in serves 7-6 and blocks 15-13.

Best performances

Top scorer by day
24- Taylor Sander of United States v Belgium on 31-8-14
31- Zhi Yuan of China v Egypt on 1-9-14
27- Antonin Rouzier of France v Italy on 2-9-14
30- Zhi Yuan of China v Mexico on 3-9-14
20- Nikola Kovacevic of Serbia v Australia on 4-9-14
20- Jiri Kovar of Italy v Belgium on 4-9-14
20- Daniel Vargas of Mexico v Russia on 5-9-14
27- Maurice Torres of Puerto Rico v Italy on 6-9-14
25- Thomas Edgar of Australia v Venezuela on 7-9-14
23- Taylor Sander of United States v Poland on 10-9-14
25- Mariusz Wlazly of Poland v Italy on 11-9-14
28- Mariusz Wlazly of Poland v Iran on 13-9-14
30- Amir Ghafour of Iran v Serbia on 14-9-14
31- Mariusz Wlazly of Poland v Brazil on 16-9-14

Top scoring performances
31- Zhi Yuan of China v Egypt on 1-9-14
31- Mariusz Wlazly of Poland v Brazil on 16-9-14
30- Zhi Yuan of China v Mexico on 3-9-14
30- Amir Ghafour of Iran v Serbia on 14-9-14
28- Mariusz Wlazly of Poland v Iran on 13-9-14
27- Antonin Rouzier of France v Italy on 2-9-14
27- Maurice Torres of Puerto Rico v Italy on 6-9-14
26- Kervin Piñerúa of Venezuela v Cameroon on 2-9-14
26- Matt Anderson of United States v Iran on 2-9-14

Top blocking performances
8- Seyed Mousavi of Iran v Italy on 31-8-14
8- Seyed Mousavi of Iran v Puerto Rico on 7-9-14
7- Seyed Mousavi of Iran v France on 4-9-14
7- Felix Chapman of Cuba v Korea on 5-9-14
7- Seyed Mousavi of Iran v Argentina on 11-9-14

Top serving performances
8- Gyorgy Grozer of Germany v Bulgaria on 11-9-14
6- Zhi Yuan of China v Mexico on 3-9-14
6- Ricardo Lucarelli Santos of Brazil v Finland on 5-9-14
6- Kervin Piñerua of Venezuela v Australia on 7-9-14
6- Dimitriy Muserskiy of Russia v Bulgaria on 7-9-14
6- Facundo Conte of Argentina v Italy on 13-9-14

Top team blocking performances
18- Bulgaria v Egypt on 6-9-14
16- Korea v Tunisia on 1-9-14
16- Italy v Belgium on 4-9-14
16- Iran v Belgium on 6-9-14
16- Iran v Puerto Rico on 7-9-14

Top team serving performances
17- Russia v Bulgaria on 7-9-14
12- Germany v Bulgaria on 11-9-14
11- Venezuela v Cameroon on 2-9-14
11- Brazil v China on 11-9-14
11- Argentina v Italy on 13-9-14

Highest scoring sets
33-31 China v Egypt (4th Set) on 1-9-14
33-31 Cameroon v Venezuela (3rd Set) on 2-9-14
32-30 Australia v France (3rd Set) on 11-9-14
31-29 United States v Serbia (2nd Set) on 11-9-14
30-28 Argentina v Italy (3rd Set) on 13-9-14
30-28 Cuba v Bulgaria (3rd Set) on 13-9-14

Highest scoring matches
217- China d Finland 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 16-14) on 13-9-14
217- Argentina d United States 3-2 (19-25, 28-26, 25-20, 23-25, 15-11) on 14-9-14
216- Finland d Cuba 3-2 (18-25, 21-25, 27-25, 25-23, 15-12) on 1-9-14
216- Bulgaria d Egypt 3-2 (25-22, 26-24, 23-25, 20-25, 15-11) on 6-9-14
214- Australia d Venezuela 3-2 (25-20, 23-25, 21-25, 25-16, 15-9) on 7-9-14