| |
|
 |
| Press &
News |
|
|
Lerbach looks for more Brazilian gold
 Visakhapatnam,
India, August 5, 2005 -- The responsibility of maintaining
Brazil's world domination falls squarely on the shoulders of
head coach Antonio Marcos Lerbach at the Men's U21 World
Championship.
The high-flying canaries have swept all before them in
recent weeks, from the men's World League to the women's
Grand Prix, the girls' youth championship and the junior
women's tournament.
Now it's the turn of the men's junior team in a championship
in which they have excelled.
"Yes, I can feel the pressure...but it's a good pressure,"
Lerbach told the official Press Conference on Friday evening.
"All the teams are in a very good shape, so the first target
is to reach the semi-finals.
"After that I cannot say what will happen, but of course we
want to win and follow the success of our other national
teams.
"It's going to be a tough championship to win, but we are
well prepared."
Brazil will play in Pool B against Tunisia, USA, Netherlands,
Germany and Iran.
Only the top two teams advance to the semi-finals, where
they will be joined by the top two from Pool A, which
comprises Serbia and Montenegro, India, Cuba, Russia,
Morocco and Korea.
The bottom two teams after the round-robin are eliminated,
and the teams placed third and fourth enter the
classification rounds for positions five to eight.
Pool A looks the tougher, with NORCECA champions Cuba,
European champions Russia, African champions Morocco and
Asian champions Korea all fighting for the two semi-final
spots, along with host India and the
powerful S & M.
Brazil will be the team to beat, however, as their record is
remarkable. They have appeared in all 12 previous editions
of the men's junior world championship, and have won the
gold medal twice, the silver four times, including 2003, and
the bronze three times.
At continental level, Brazil have won 14 of the 17 South
American junior championships.
Germany's coach, Michael Warm, thinks his team are well
prepared for their sixth appearance in the event.
"They have been playing together as a team in the Bundesliga
for the last year, and stayed in the first division by
finishing eighth," he said. "This has been good to build the
team, and I hope this is the basis of
the senior team."
The United States will be appearing for the third time and
the first since 1981 after winning the silver medal in the
NORCECA qualifier behind Cuba.
Head coach John Speraw said it was a long time since their
last appearance, and it was just great to be back on the
world stage.
The action starts on Saturday with three games at each of
the two venues. |
|
|
Competition Formula