Miljkovic, Nikic help Serbia steal a win from Brazil

Milos scored 21 for Serbia in their win over Brazil

Hamamatsu, Japan, November 29, 2011 - Brazil came into Tuesday’s match against Serbia with a 5-2 record in 2011 FIVB Men's World Cup play, having been handed their second loss on Monday to a spirited Cuba team. They were surprised with another defeat at the hands of a spirited Serbian squad, who beat them 3-1 (27-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-21). Brazil’s road to London now gets much tougher, as third place in the tournament is just a little closer for Italy and Cuba who are tied for fourth.

Leading Serbia on the day was their captain Ivan Miljkovic with 22 points. Winning the Most Impressive Player award was Milos Nikic, who had a stellar performance with 21 points. Brazil were led by their captain Gilberto Godoy Filho (Giba) with 15 points.

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Serbia took the lead early with an ace by Marco Podrascanin helping his side to 7-4. In comparison, Brazil struggled with their serving, committing a flurry of errors in the first. But Leandro Vissotto Neves was attacking well and managed to keep his team within one at 13-12. Serbia jumped ahead by four on a Nikola Kovacevic score, but Brazil’s Murilo Endres and Theo helped their side power back within one again at 23-22. Serbia's Miljkovic, who scored eight points in the set, sent down a hard spike to give Serbia their third setpoint after Brazil bit on the decoy, and they took the set from there 27-25.

The Brazilians rebounded in the second with a hard Giba spike putting them up 6-2. Vissotto was attacking well, adding four points including a soft floater at the net to push to 17-12. Miljkovic brought his side back within three with a wonderful ace to make it 23-20, but it was too late at that point as Brazil closed it 25-20, evening the match at a set a piece.

Murilo starded out attacking well in the third for Brazil, but was countered by Serbia’s Nikic who was firing away on the wing. Nikic would post a block on Vissotto as well to put Serbia up 11-9. As Brazil again struggled with serving in the second, they nevertheless stuck close, managing to equalize at 16-16. But from there Serbia brought more Nikic, as he has three key spikes (of eight points in the set) in the clutch while Dragan Stankovich brought a block on Giba to take the set 25-20.

Miljkovic gave Serbia an 8-4 lead to start the fourth, but Brazil’s Wallace de Souza came off the bench with four great attacks to cut the lead to 14-12. But a Nikic ace helped put Serbia ahead by five, and that was a lead they wouldn’t relinquish as a Miljkovic spike made it 22-19, and he brought another to close it 25-22, taking the match 3-1.

Serbia's Miljkovic: We don't get a chance to play Brazil a lot, let alone beat them

Serbia upset top-ranked Brazil on Tuesday with strong play from Nikic and Miljkovic

Hamamatsu, Japan, November 29, 2011 - Brazil suffered their second heart-breaking defeat in as many days, losing to Serbia in a tough four-set match in the third round of the 2011 FIVB Men’s World Cup.

Serbia captain Ivan Miljkovic: Brazil is always interesting for us. All the games are very important, but for sure this is an important victory for us, even though we don’t have big chances to qualify. But it will help us improve our games and change our approach moving forward.

On the third round in Hamamatsu: The first two games we played with a young team and they put up good resistance. I think they learned a lot. We were fresher than Brazil today, and some of our starters were well rested. But yes, this is an important victory for us.

Serbia coach Igor Kolakovic: It is our best game in this tournament. I said yesterday we don’t get a chance to play Brazil a lot, let alone beat them. We are very satisfied with this win set.

On Nikic’s strong performance: In the last European Championships he was one of our best players. But during this tournament he had some knee pain. He missed two games versus Russia and Italy, but today he was impressive. He was motivated because we were playing against Brazil. For us it's a big game every time we play against Brazil.

Brazil captain Gilberto Godoy Filho (Giba): We had so many mistakes today. And for us in such big a match, we really wanted to win. Serbia played very good in their attack, No. 10 [Milos Nikic] and Miljkovic played well, and with us not blocking or defending [well] is difficult, making too many mistakes.

Brazil coach Bernardo Rezende: I think what our captain said was right. We had so many mistakes. There were many breaks we didn’t [capitalize on]. Serbia played their first good match in the competition and they deserved to win. We had some tension, but its my responsibility to build the group to strongly resist this kind of situation.

Italy score amazing win over Brazil while Russia and Poland maintain perfect record

The Italian joy was overwhelming after the "Azzurri" scored their first win over Brazil in 8 years

Nagoya, Japan, November 22, 2011 – The third day of play delivered the first major surprise since the start of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup in Japan, as 2011 European silver medalists Italy scored their first win over triple world champions Brazil since 2003. That was a classy game that delighted a massive audience in Kagoshima and ended as Italy sealed it with an incredible score (22-20) at the tie-break. Russia and Poland are hence the sole teams with an impeccable record after three rounds of play as the winners of the 2011 FIVB World League literally downed team USA in straight sets while the bronze medalists from the 2011 CEV European Championship seized a match full of ups and downs with the Argentinean side being sidelined by many unforced errors in the so-called “money time” of set 3 and 4. Quite significantly Egypt scored a win in straight sets over China on an emotional day for the African champions as political turmoil has been deepening in Cairo; it was another sad day for the home heroes of Japan who lost their third consecutive match, this time to 2010 world silver medalists Cuba, in straight sets thereby undermining their chances to book a trip to the London Olympics via this competition.

Pre-tournament favorite Brazil took on the third-ranked Italian squad on day three of the FIVB Men’s World Cup hoping to remain undefeated after wins against Egypt and the USA. However, the triple world champions would be their own worst enemy on this day with 22 service errors, allowing a 2-1 lead escape them as Italy came back to win a thriller 3:2 (25-16, 20-25, 18-25, 25-21, 22-20). Italy’s Michal Lasko produced a monster match notching 27 points with seven blocks. He was supported by the hard serving Ivan Zaytsev with 16 points including four aces. For Brazil, Sidnei dos Santos Jr (aka Sidão) paced his side with 17 points with Leandro Vissotto Neves and the captain Gilberto Godoy Filho (Giba) following with 16 and 14 points, respectively. Italy coach Mauro Berruto commented after the game: “Playing Brazil is always a fantastic thing. The level of the match was high and we both showed wonderful Volleyball on court. For us this is a great day, because the last time we beat them was in 2003. We were waiting for a long time for this. We will enjoy the moment, but the road is still long. We have an important two points here, and I hope maybe we’re breaking through a wall we had when playing the best team in the world. We have to stay focused on our ultimate goal, which is the ticket to London”.

Russia looks near invincible in Kagoshima and on Tuesday night they took their 2-0 win/loss record into a match with a tough USA team, who were coming off a disappointing loss to top-ranked Brazil. Russia rolled on in this match thanks to great blocking throughout, winning the first two sets easily, and displaying composure to take the third from behind for the final 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 26-24).

China and Egypt were both winless coming into day three at the FIVB World Cup in Kagoshima, so something had to give. The Chinese had an 11-3 historical edge in the head-to-head, although Egypt had won their last contest in a September friendly in Dubai. Egypt would take this match as well 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-18), playing inspired as a difficult political situation continues at home, making them the sentimental favorite on the day. Leading Egypt was their super-southpaw Ahmed Abdelhay with 19 points, including a trio of aces. He was supported with great play by his setter Abdalla Ahmed, who took the most impressive player award for the match.

An inspired Iran posted a five-set victory (25-17, 18-25, 21-25, 25-21, 15-11) on the third day of action at “Nippongaishi” sports hall on Tuesday afternoon. The victory gave Iran a 2-1 mark in the tournament, while European champion Serbia slumped to 0-3. Mehdi Bazargarde (17 points) and Mohammad Mousavi (14 points) led a balanced scoring attack for Iran, which played a fine all-around game under the direction of head coach Julio Velasco. Ivan Miljkovic was the focal point for Serbia, scoring a match-high 22 points. Dragan Stankovic and Marko Podrascanin added 14 each.

Poland improved its win/loss record to 3-0 by rallying to a four-set win (18-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-22) over Argentina. Both teams entered the contest unbeaten, Poland having defeated both Cuba and Serbia in its first two matches, while Argentina bested Serbia and Japan. Zbigniew Bartman paced the 2011 European bronze medalists with 17 points, while Michal Winiarski contributed 15. Winiarski was named the most impressive player of the match. Poland showed good teamwork in the victory and capitalized on Argentina committing more unforced errors. Facundo Conte had a match-high 19 points for Argentina in the loss while Sebastian Solé added 11 for the losers.

Cuba handed host Japan its third straight defeat (25-21, 25-23, 25-22) on the third day of first-round action in Nagoya. The win lifted Cuba to a 2-1 win/loss in the World Cup, while Japan slumped to 0-3. Fernando Hernandez starred for the winners once more, with strong backing from Wifredo Leon, who was named the most impressive player of the match. Kunihiro Shimizu and Daisuke Yako were the key players in Japan’s attempt to get its first win of the tournament. Cuba split its first two matches, beating Iran and losing to Poland. Japan, which previously lost to Iran and Argentina, just could not deal with the overwhelming power game of the Cubans.

We can be proud of this win, says Russia coach Alekno

Denis Biriukov fires an attack against the Russia team

Kagoshima, Japan, November 22, 2011 - Russia remained undefeated in FIVB Mens World Cup play with three straight set wins in as many matches, taking a victory today from a strong USA team who gave them trouble in the third. Coach Alekno was happy with his team’s performance, and now Russia looks forward to top-ranked Brazil after a rest day on Wednesday.

Russia coach Vladimir Alekno: We have two things in sport, one is winning and one is losing. You can sometimes be proud of losing and sometimes ashamed of winning, and today we can be proud of this win.

Russia captain Taras Khtey: I think the USA fought well but we’re happy to win these three points. The third set was a historical set. [As for my condition] it is good. I think it’s important to be on the court with other players.

On Brazil the day after tomorrow: We need to prepare very well as Brazil is the top ranked team in the world. They have many great players like Giba, Dante, and Sérgio.

USA coach Alan Knipe: Well, we didn’t have good balance tonight. We had lots of success by Clay [Stanley] and not much help, which was similar to last night when we were heavy with Matt [Anderson]. We’d like to work to get balance and consistency; we passed better tonight and got in position after fighting, were in position to win set three. But all credit to Russia they played well but we didn’t close. We need to start the match significantly better. Congratulations to Russia they played well and blocked well.

USA captain Clayton Stanley: As far as the game goes we showed up little late. I thought we struggled from the left side and struggled to get our offense going in the middle of the court. It’s disappointing that in third with the lead we had, that we couldn’t finish and continue the match longer. But congratulations to Russia, and the best of luck to them in the rest of the tournament.

On whether he thought the Russians blocked unusually well today? I don’t think its unusual at all. They’re a big team known for their blocking, and unfortunately today we couldn’t find a way around it. They stopped us in the middle and at position four. We need to look at video and maybe some change things around a little bit. But no, they blocked great. They’re a great blocking team.

With Butko blocking beautifully, Russia remain perfect

Maxim Mikhaylov led the Russians in scoring in a win over the USA

Kagoshima, Japan, November 22, 2011 - Russia have looked near invincible so far in this FIVB Men's World Cup first round, and on Tuesday night they took their 2-0 into a match with a tough USA team, who were coming off a disappointing loss to top-ranked Brazil. Russia rolled on in this match thanks to great blocking throughout, winning the first two sets easily, and displaying composure to take the third from behind, winning 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 26-24).

Leading Russia on the day, as he has in all their matches so far, was Maxim Mikhaylov with 18 points. Supporting him with great defensive performances was the match most impressive player Alexander Butko who had six blocks, and Nikolay Apalikov who had five blocks. For the USA, Clayton Stanley finally found his rhythm posting 17 points in a losing effort.

The two teams went point for point early, with neither team leading by more than one until Mikhaylov drove a hard spike off Ryan Millar to edge Russia ahead 12-10. Alexander Volkov, the second leader blocker in the tournament thus far, kept us his stellar defence with a block on Matt Anderson. The USA were within one at 16-15, but Russia put up an 8-1 run marked by great attacking from Mikhaylov and Denis Biriukov (both had six in the set), and capped by a soft ace from Volkov to help close 25-18.

Russia held a slim lead to start the second, moving up two on a Biriukov smash, and then extending to four, 12-8, after two incredible blocks by Butko. An errant tip by David Lee put Russia up six, and they’d keep that margin as a Mikhaylov drive put them up 21-15, despite the USA’s best offensive efforts from Reid Priddy and Stanley. Attacks from Sergey Tetyukhin and Biriukov would clinch another relatively easy set for the Russians 25-18.

In the third, Butko frustrated the Americans up front, posting his fourth and fifth block consecutively to go ahead 8-5. But Stanley brought a block of his own to tie at 10-10. The USA captain would subsequently deliver three straight aces on an 8-1 run to go up 19-13. An incredible block by Lee on Mikhaylov put the USA in apparent control at 23-18, but Russia battled back with Butko’s sixth block bringing his side within one, and Apalikov’s fifth block drawing even at 24-all. And that was all Mikhaylov would need, as he’d ride their momentum home on a kill 26-24.

Cuba keep Japan winless with straight sets victory

Cuba delivered a strong performance tonight in Nagoya to defeat Japan in straight sets

Nagoya, Japan, November 22, 2011 - Cuba handed host Japan its third straight defeat (25-21, 25-23, 25-22) on the third day of first-round action in the 2011 FIVB Men's World Cup at "Nippongaishi" hall on Tuesday. The win lifted Cuba to a 2-1 win/loss in the World Cup, while Japan slumped to 0-3. Fernando Hernandez starred for the winners once more, with strong backing from Wifredo Leon, who was named the most impressive player of the match. Kunihiro Shimizu and Daisuke Yako were the key players in Japan's attempt to get its first win of the tournament.

Cuba split its first two matches, beating Iran and losing to Poland. Japan, which previously lost to Iran and Argentina, just could not deal with the overwhelming power game of the Cubans. Backed by a partisan home crowd, Japan came out with enthusiasm and led 7-6. The hosts were ahead 8-7 at the first TTO in the opening set. Cuba then scored three straight points to go up 10-7 and Japan took a timeout. A service by Shimizu evened the score at 11-11. Hernandez rose high for a spike to make it 14-11 for Cuba. Leon then followed with one of his own. Henry Bell made it three straight for 16-11 at the second TTO. Kota Yamamura broke the streak with a well-placed swipe. A nice block by Isbel Mesa put Cuba up 20-14. Hernandez sent a serve into the net to make it 22-17 and Shimizu followed with a spike. Cuba reached set point when a Japan serve went long. Japan made it 24-21 on a service ace by Yuta Yoneyama but Leon finished the set 25-21 with a spike. Leon notched six points in the first set, while Hernandez had five; Shimizu topped Japan with four.

Japan was on top 8-7 at the first TTO in the second set behind some strong blocking. Consecutive missed spikes by Cuba gave Japan a 13-11 lead. A deft hit by Yako saw Japan with a three-point lead (16-13) at the second TTO. Hernandez ripped another spike to pull Cuba within a point at 16-15. The Cubans tied the score at 18-18 on a wicked serve by Hernandez. Cuba finally moved in front 20-19 on a spike by Bell. Japan tied it 22-22 on a spike by Shimizu. Hernandez's block gave Cuba set point and he finished it 25-23 with one more spike. Hernandez had seven points in the set, while Leon added four. Yako had seven points and Shimizu five for Japan.

The third set began inauspiciously for Japan when Yako served into the net. Japan took a 6-4 lead in the third set on the back of some unforced errors by Cuba and led 8-5 at the first TTO. A spike by Yako gave Japan an 11-7 lead and Cuba called a timeout. Japan surged to an 15-11 lead and was up 16-12 at the second TTO when Leon could not handle a spike. Yako hammered a spike to make it 17-14, but Cuba responded with four straight points to move in front 18-17. The score was knotted 20-20 when Bell uncorked a spike to give Cuba back the lead. A block by Mesa put Cuba within two points of victory at 23-21. Cuba closed out the contest 25-22 on one final spike by Hernandez.

Poland’s Zygadlo anticipates tough competition ahead

Poland celebrate in their match against Argentina

Nagoya, Japan, November 22, 2011 - Poland upheld a clean record in Group A at the first round of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup by beating Argentina in four sets. 

Playing Brazil is always a fantastic thing, says Italy coach Berruto

Italy blocked well in their victory over Brazil

Kagoshima, Japan, November 22, 2011 - In a battle between the first and third-ranked teams in this FIVB Men's World Cup, Italy managed to outlast Brazil in an epic match that went the distance. Italian coach Mauro Berruto was delighted to finally beat the Brazilians for the first time in eight years.

Italy coach Mauro Berruto: Playing Brazil is always a fantastic thing. The level of the match was high and we both showed wonderful volleyball on court. For us this is a great day, because the last time we beat them was in 2003. We were waiting for a long time for this. We will enjoy the moment, but the road is still long. We have an important two points here, and I hope maybe we’re breaking through a wall we had when playing the best team in the world (Brazil). We have to stay focused on our ultimate goal, which is the ticket to London.

On entering the second round 2-1: Our focus is on the ultimate goal and that is the Olympic qualification. This was a great match and the team showed great heart on the court. Tonight, we will focus our attention on to the next match, which is China.

Italy captain Cristian Savani: It was difficult match today as we expected. Brazil is an excellent team and this was a really good fight. Today will motivate us from tomorrow.

Brazil coach Bernardo Rezende: Congratulations to the Italian team. They served well, blocked well. Tactically they were very good and put a lot of pressure on our team. We have to study more see how we can improve to be better for the next matches. It still depends on us, but now it’s makes it tougher to get to our goal of Olympic qualification. This definitely will make our road ahead harder. They were more consistent than we were and deserve the victory.

Brazil captain Gilberto Godoy Filho (Giba): This was a very hard match. I don’t have so much to say about the game. We’re now thinking about seeing Russia on one day of rest; another final. It’s very sad to lose this match for sure.

Italy survive a game of errors with Brazil

Italy celebrate an epic five-set win versus top-ranked Brazil

Kagoshima, Japan, November 22, 2011 - Pre-tournament favorites Brazil took on the third-ranked Italian squad on day three of the FIVB Men's World Cup hoping to remain undefeated after wins against Egypt and the USA. But they would be their own worst enemy on this day with 22 service errors, allowing a 2-1 lead escape them as Italy came back to win a thriller 3-2 (25-16, 20-25, 18-25, 25-21, 22-20).

Italy's Michel Lasko produced a monster match notching 27 points with seven blocks. He was supported by the hard serving Ivan Zaytsev with 16 points including four aces. For Brazil, Sidnei dos Santos Jr (aka Sidão) led with 17 points with Leandro Vissotto Neves and the captain Gilberto Godoy Filho (Giba) following with 16 and 14 points, respectively.

Italy started hot against Brazil with Dragan Travica posting a great block on Vissotto to set the tone. From there, Zaytsev would power them on a 9-1 run to go ahead 16-7 with three consecutive aces and a fourth serve that gave Brazil trouble so Lasko had an easy spike. Brazil couldn’t get any attacking rhythm going, and Lasko came again with a spike to clinch the set 25-16, his seventh point in the period.

Brazil held a slim 8-6 lead early in the second, though it would have been far more if they didn’t have four service errors going into the TTO. Vissotto attacked well in the set with two smashes back to back giving Brazil a 15-12 lead. After errant spikes from Zaytsev and Cristian Savani, Theo Lopes came with consecutive stuff blocks to extend the lead to 20-15. The teams were clearly fired up for this one as the referee had to warn the sides to stay under control. But Brazil had total control in this frame, taking it 25-20.

The Brazilians tried to bring that momentum into the third set, but again a service error interrupted their rhythm and allowed Italy to counter with four straight points to go ahead 8-6. Brazil rebounded by taking eight of the next 10 points until Marlon Muraguti Yared and Endres Murilo both threw ugly serves at the net to let Italy stay within three at 15-12. Luckily Giba stepped up to deliver two attacks to jump out 20-15 for Brazil and Murilo brought two more plus an ace to close 25-18.

The Italians’ serving made a reappearance in the fourth with Zaytsev dropping his fourth ace, while Luigi Mastrangelo and Travica each brought one to go ahead 12-8. Lasko continued scoring well for Italy, putting up strong defense also posting a stuff block on Sidão (his fifth) to jump ahead 15-12. Brazil kept close, but this time their service errors proved costly (from Lucas and Marlon). A stray spike from Murilo handed Italy the set 25-21, tied at two sets a piece.

The tie-break saw both teams competing hard for each point with Fei getting a yellow card for trying to argue one too hard. The match went all the way down to the wire, with Italy warding off five Brazil match points, until a Vissotto net serve game them match point allowing Travica to stun Brazil with with an ace (his third of the contest) to take the set 22-20, and the match 3-2. The fifth set had seven lead changes, including four after the score reached 15-all.

Anastasi says determination made difference for Poland

Italian-born head coach Andrea Anastasi briefs his players during a time-out

Poland coach Andrea Anastasi did not hide his enthusiasm: "Today was a good day for Poland. They play a different system than the European system. We played well consistently after the first set and fought for every ball. We have taller players and so play a certain way. They have quicker players and use their own style".

Argentina coach Javier Weber commented: "I thought both teams played well today. They played better after the 20th point when it counted. That was the difference in the third and fourth sets".

Poland captain Marcin Mozdzonek stated: "We are very happy that we won this tough game against Argentina. We concentrated on our own tactics. We had some bad moments in the match but still won".

Poland top scorer Zbigniew Bartman: "We are amazing happy to get the win because we lost the first set. We are pleased to be leaving Nagoya with three victories".

Argentina captain Rodrigo Quiroga rounded out the press conference by saying: "We played good in the first set. We didn't put pressure on them with our serve. They have good spikers and blockers".