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World League 2005 News
The “Red Wine” team hoping for a better
vintage
 May
25, 2005 – Having missed out on last year’s
competition, world number 13 Venezuela are
hoping for big things in the 2005 World League
and there’s no better way to start than against
the world’s top ranked team Brazil in this
weekend’s opening round.
Under the direction of new coach Eliseo Ramos,
current Pan American champions Venezuela will
find in Brazil an extremely tough opponent
considering they are World, Olympic and World
League champions and are favourites to retain
their title.
However, overall the goal set by Venezuelan
Volleyball authorities is to improve the
national team’s performance of the past three
editions of the World League (2001-2003), where
the “red wine” team finished last each time.
Pic: Ernardo "Harry" Gomez was Venezuela's
top scorer in 2003
With a record of seven wins and 29 defeats, the
past three World League experiences have not
been encouraging but with new coach Ramos on
board and an exciting young squad in front of
him, Venezuelan fans are quietly optimistic.
Undoubtedly, Venezuela has made lot of progress,
illustrated by the recent victories achieved
internationally, such as the gold medal in the
2004 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo,
beating Brazil and Cuba; as well as the 2003
World Cup in Japan, where they collected six
victories, one of them over the hosts.
Fellow Pool C opposition Portugal has also been
a victim of Venezuela, losing in the qualifying
tournament for the 2004 Olympic Games in Porto
last year.
With plenty of young yet talented players in his
squad, such as the exciting Ernardo Gomez,
Ronald Méndez, Luis Díaz, Fredy Cedeño, Iván
Márquez and Rodman Valera among others, who have
played in Argentina, Spain, Portugal,
Switzerland and Japan, Ramos is banking on some
marked improvement in this year’s competition.
The early signs are good with all the players
having participated since April in a training
program consisting of two daily sessions. Only
one player, Thomás Ereú, who is due to have a
knee operatation, is unavailable for the
competition.
World league action in Venezuela starts with two
Intercontinental Round matches against Brazil on
Saturday (3pm local time) and Sunday (12:00
local time), in Pool A, which is completed by
Japan and Portugal, in the Poliedro, a sport
complex with a capacity of 12,500 people.
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Competition Formula