Heat on Portugal and Greece to stay
in contention
 Lausanne,
Switzerland, June 22, 2005 – A pair of
victories to Brazil against Japan in
Pool A and Poland, who visit Serbia and
Montenegro in Pool C, this weekend will
put both sides in the driver’s seat for
claiming a Final Round berth after this
weekend’s fifth round.
Both countries have a two point lead (two
points for a win and one for a defeat)
over their nearest rivals - Portugal in
Pool A and Greece in Pool C - and any
slip up by their closest opponents could
spell an early finish for the race for
the Final Round tickets, provided both
Brazil and Poland do the double this
weekend.
Pic: Portugal will try and keep their
fans happy by beating Venezuela twice
this weekend
In Pool A, Portugal, who have five wins
and three defeats, need to win both
their matches against Venezuela in
Caracas to keep the pressure on
defending champions Brazil (7-1).
Victory for Venezuela (4-4) in either
match will leave world number one Brazil
with the highly probable task of
claiming two victories over winless
Japan (0-8) to seal their Final Round
spot.
It is a similar scenario in Pool C where
Greece (4-4) need a pair of victories
when they host Argentina (2-6) this
weekend. Just one defeat in Thessaloniki
will open the door to Poland (6-2) to
claim a Final Round berth this weekend
when they play automatic Final Round
qualifiers Serbia and Montenegro (4-4)
at home in Katowice.
Meanwhile, in Pool B it is neck and neck
at the top of the table between Cuba and
Italy and their second clash in Havana
has accordingly been named as FIVB’s
television “match of the week”. Both
sides are level on 13 points with five
wins and three defeats so if one side
manages to do the double this weekend
they will take a handy lead going into
the final Intercontinental Round next
weekend for the race to win the pool and
claim the one ticket on offer to the
Final Round in Belgrade.
Although Cuba are ranked 16th in the
world and on paper are expected to find
it tough against the world number two,
the central Americans have been in
dazzling form in this competition with a
youthful energetic side entertaining
fans the world over. Italy, meanwhile,
have been going through a tough
rebuilding phase but are starting to
show the consistency which netted them
the Olympic silver medal and World
League runner’s up spot last year.
If Cuba and Italy split their matches,
Bulgaria (3-5) and France (3-5) both
have a chance of keeping their Final
Round hopes alive if they win both
matches in their contest in Varna. Their
first match has the honour of opening
the action this weekend when they play
at 15.00 GMT, followed shortly after by
Poland’s match against Serbia and
Montenegro in Katowice at 17.00 GMT.
TV networks interested in broadcasting
the event are invited to contact Sports
TV Media Distribution, the coordination
agency based in Klagenfurt (tel. +43 463
90 8000 ; +43 676 848 606 220 ; +43 676
848 606 217 ; fax +43 463 90 8000 99 ;
e-mail : worldleague@stvmd.com). |
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