Milan, Italy, October 1, 2010 – The silver medalists from four years ago Poland suffered their second 3-0 defeat in two days to take an early exit from the FIVB Men’s World Championship Italy 2010 second round after going down to Bulgaria 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-17) in Ancona on Friday.  Bulgaria, the bronze medalists from 2006,  broke a five-game losing streak to Poland one day on after Poland suffered a similar fate against Brazil, confirming positions in the third round for both Brazil and Bulgaria.

The final day of the second round, which consists of six pools of three teams, takes place on Saturday with teams in five of those pools trying to ensure that they finish in the top two to confirm themselves a spot in the third round.


FIVB Men's World Championship 2010 official page

Pool I in Catania
Spain beat Russia 3-2 (17-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-20, 15-13)
A tournament high 30 points by Iban Perez led Spain to a repeat of their 2007 European Championship final success against Russia with a come-from-behind victory for only their fourth win in 12 matches against the world No. 2. Despite the victory, Spain still will need to beat Egypt on Saturday to secure a berth in the next round. Russia already took a significant step towards claiming a third phase ticket with a 3-0 win over Egypt on Thursday. “I told my players to learn from the big teams like Brazil, Cuba and Russia and that a weaker team has to play to win those sides because if you don’t then you don’t learn,” Spain coach Julio Velasco said.

Pool G in Catania
Italy beat Germany 3-1 (21-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-18)
Hosts Italy rose to the occasion in front of more than 5,000 partisan spectators at PalaCatania to score an important victory over Germany in its Pool G second round debut. Italy out-blocked Germany 12-2 and also had the edge in the serving category 4-3 while Simone Parodi led the winners with 20 points including three blocks while Robert Kromm topped the scores for Germany with 16 points as Italy proceeded to their 15th win out of 26 matches against Germany. “In the first set we made a lot of errors but after that we played a wonderful game,” Italy coach Andrea Anastasi said. “The fourth set was fantastic and I am very happy with this win.”

Pool M in Milan
France beat Japan 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-23)
France kept their hopes alive of qualifying for the FIVB Men’s World Championship third round with a comprehensive straight-sets win over Japan. After Thursday’s 3-1 defeat at the hands of Argentina, France will now need to wait for Saturday’s final Pool M match between Argentina and Japan to see which two teams advance to the next phase. With both teams ranked 12th in the world, the win marked France’s 10th victory in the last 11 matches against Japan but the result didn’t mask the disappointment of Philippe Blain following the news that star spiker Antonin Rouzier, who was the tournament’s fourth Best Scorer prior to the match, has potentially been ruled out for the rest of the tournament with an ankle injury according to the coach. France’s best weapon was the block with nine in the match and despite Rouzier having to be carried from the court in the third set, he was Les Tricolours’ best scorer with 14 points. Japan’s best scorer Kunihiro Shimizu with 64 points, added to the tally with the match high of 14 points. “I’m not really satisfied with the quality of the game, we were too impatient and this is not a good Volleyball feature,” France coach Philippe Blain said.

Pool H in Milan
Cuba beat Mexico 3-0 (25-17, 27-25, 25-15)
Cuba walked the path of victory once again after Thursday’s burning disappointment against Serbia, beating Mexico in straight sets. Cuba’s hopes are high as they await the outcome of Saturday’s match between Serbia and Mexico before knowing whether they are qualified for the Third Round with Mexico needing to win convincingly to be in contention to advance. Cuba and Mexico have now played each other three times with Cuba winning every time in straight sets. The block, which contributed 10 points, was the weapon of choice for Cuba while the percentage of attacks (59%) by Orlando Blackwood’s team was impressive. Leal Hidalgo topped the scorers with 16 points, including four  aces with the youngest player in the competition 17 year-old Wilfredo Leon adding 13 points. “From now on, the next matches will be hard and difficult,” Cuba captain Robertlandy Simón said. “In order to reach an important result we must make a difference.”

Pool N in Ancona
Bulgaria beat Poland 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-17)
Bulgaria broke a five-game losing streak to Poland and debuted in the FIVB Men's World Championship Second Round Pool N with a straight sets victory over the 2006 World Championship silver medalists in Ancona’s Palrossini Hall. Silvano Prandi’s Bulgarian men, bronze medalists themselves four years ago, assured themselves a place in the next round with fantastic performance forcing Poland out of the tournament with its second loss in the second round. The superb attack by Bulgaria converted 57 percent of its attacks into points with Vladimir Nikolov scoring 22 points. Matey Kaziyski added 14 points in the victory. Bulgaria held a 12-2 block advantage and 6-2 margin in service aces. "I’m very happy we won because it is the first victory against Poland in four years,” Bulgaria captain Vladimir Nikolov said. Poland captain Pawel Zagumny: "After three good games in Trieste, we’re not sure why we played in this way. Bulgaria played very well in serving and attack and we didn’t do as well as we have in the past. It was not because we were over-confident. You cannot be too confident when playing against Brazil and Bulgaria. Maybe we were just too nervous."

Pool L in Ancona
USA beat Cameroon 3-2 (23-25, 25-14, 25-27, 25-20, 15-7)
In a tight match characterized by highs and lows by both teams, USA, ranked third in the world, served up a spectacular comeback victory over the crowd favorite and world No. 21 Cameroon (their third in as many games against Cameroon) at the PalaRossini venue in Ancona. After losing on Thursday to the Czech Republic to open the second round, USA remains in the tournament and currently has the upper hand in receiving a ticket to the third round. If Cameroon defeats Czech Republic on Saturday, all three teams will finish with 1-1 records and the tiebreaker of point ratio will be applied to determine the two teams to advance. Clayton Stanley led the Americans with 27 points with 21 spikes and five aces, while USA captain William Priddy added 26 points on 22 spikes and four aces on his 33rd birthday. Cameroon's Jean Patrice Ndaki Mboulet scored a match-high 29 points with 27 spikes and both his team's aces. "It’s been a difficult year and a half. We’ve had a lot of adversity, family issues, problems with the team and it’s been difficult to find our team-rhythm,” USA captain William Priddy said. “And I’m not sure we found that tonight either." Cameroon coach Peter Nonnenboroich said: "If anyone would have said we would have played the USA in the second round and play them in a five-set match, no one would have believed them. We fought as hard as we could but have a lack of experience playing at this level and playing together as a team.”

Standings
Pool G (Catania): Germany 3, Italy 2 Puerto Rico 1
Pool I  (Catania): Russia 3, Spain 2, Egypt 1
Pool H  (Milan): Cuba 3, Serbia 2, Mexico 1
Pool M  (Milan): France 3, Argentina 2, Japan 1
Pool L  (Ancona): USA 3, Czech Republic 2, Cameroon 1
Pool N (Ancona): Brazil 2, Bulgaria 2, Poland 2
Teams in bold already qualified for third round

Highest Scorers By Day
R1 Day 1: 28 points by Antonin Rouzier (FRA) in France’s 3-2 win over the Czech Republic in Turin
R1 Day 2: 27 points by Maxim Mikhaylov (RUS) in Russia’s 3-1 win over Australia in Modena
R1 Day 3: 28 points by Fernando Hernandez (CUB) in Cuba’s 3-2 win over Brazil in Verona
R2 Day 4: 24 points by Gyrgy Grozer (GER) in Germany’s 3-0 win over Puerto Rico in Catania
R2 Day 5: 30 points by Iban Perez (ESP) in Spain’s 3-2 win over Russia in Catania

Highest Set Score
34-32 (EGY v JPN  in Pool A) (CUB v BRA in Pool B) Both matches played on September 27.

Tournament Top Scorers
94 Jean Patrice Ndaki Mboulet (CMR)
93 Clayton Stanley (USA)
88 Antonin Rouzier (FRA)
87 Maxim Mikhaylov (RUS)
86 Gyrgy Grozer (GER)

Birthdays on October 2
Sebastian Schwarz (GER) turns 25
Ivan Zaytsev (ITA) turns 22

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