Brazil concedes a set in second win over
Japan
 June
12, 2005 – Four time World League
champions Brazil snatched a hard fought
3-1 (25-17, 25-19, 27-29, 25-18) victory
over Japan in Gifu City to improve their
record to five wins and a loss while
Japan have still to record a victory in
this year's competition.
The Olympic champions, who have now gone
top of Pool A but could be joined by
Portugal who play Venezuela on Sunday,
failed to make their mark in the
one-sided victory as they still develop
combinations but they showed glimpses of
their class, with a smooth combination
on attack and effective blocking
performance. Setter and captain Ricardo
Garcia managed to make the whole team
into a complete attacking machine.
Pic: Japan are still building a young
and exciting side
Japan's traditional strength - quick
combined offence - was ineffective only
to find Brazil's blocking very difficult
to beat. Their 23-year-old outside
spiker, Rio Matsunaga, was sent onto the
court only part way through the middle
of the second set, recording 16 points
in attack and finishing as Japan's best
scorer.
"We have improved our performance as a
whole and played better than yesterday,"
Garcia said. "I am convinced that we are
going in the right direction. But in the
last stage of the third set we have lost
our concentration to open the door to
Japan."
"We made too many mistakes and showed
some inconsistency in the third set,"
Brazil coach Bernardo Rezende said. "We
should have won in thee sets rather than
four, nevertheless we recorded quite a
few points in our blocking which is very
satisfactory. "
"We are not mature enough to match up
with a world class team like Brazil who
have various strong offensive weapons,"
Japan coach Tatsuya Ueta said.
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Competition Formula