Translated material
Queue for Europe
Brazil became the last semi-finalist of the World Cup
The second group stage of the Volleyball World Championships in Japan has ended. Two semi-finalists from the eight “E” in Sendai, where our team competed, were decided the day before - Serbia and Montenegro and Poland. Yesterday, in the head-to-head match for first place in the group, the Poles won with a score of 3:0 (25:20, 25:18, 25:20) and remained the only participant in the tournament who did not know defeat. In Hiroshima, in octet “F”, Bulgaria, which had previously guaranteed itself the continuation of the fight for medals, lost to Brazil - 1:3, and after that the Italy - France match did not matter. The South Americans were no longer accessible to either the volleyball players from the Apennine Peninsula or the “tricolors”. Thus, on Saturday the following matches will take place in the semi-finals: Poland - Bulgaria, Brazil - Serbia and Montenegro. A colossal success for teams from Eastern European countries - three positions in the top four!Alas, at this volleyball festival there was no place for the Russian team. Having lost all chances of getting into the medals the day before after losing to Poland, in the final round Zoran Gajić's team easily dealt with Japan - 3:0. For the first time at the tournament, our volleyball players had to play in front of such an impressive audience, but, alas, the match was a warm-up match. It didn’t matter at all who would take third or fourth place in this group, and it was these positions that the Russians and the Japanese disputed. Moreover, the game between France and Italy, in which our Saturday opponent was determined, began simultaneously, but ended much later due to a stubborn five-set fight - 3:2 in favor of France. This means that after two days of rest, Gajic's team will meet with the Italians.
The excellent performance of the Polish national team one hundred percent confirms the correctness of the decision of the national volleyball federation, which more than a year and a half ago announced an open competition to fill the vacant position of head coach of the national team. In addition to the Argentinean Raul Lozano, who eventually won the fight for this post, the candidacies of the current coach of the Novy Urengoy “Torch” Boris Kolchins, and Gayich himself, and others were considered. The diminutive South American suited the Poles in all respects - reasonable financial requirements, an integrated approach to preparing the team, the absence of any coaching chimeras. Today Poles are reaping the benefits of his work.
Volleyball in this country is the second sports religion after football. Polish fans are perhaps the most active in the world; they manage to find funds to travel to major tournaments, and even in distant Japan you can see several hundred people in the stands, dressed in red and white national colors. These people are now in euphoria. Of course, after all, their team has not risen so high at the World Championships since 1974, when they won gold in Mexico. It was a great team, which later achieved triumph at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Our offenders in Japan now have a great chance to reach the finals. Still, in the Poland-Bulgaria pair, the first opponent is considered the favorite. As for the Bulgarians, exactly 20 years ago they finished third at the World Cup in Paris.
The Russian team showed its worst result at the World Championships in 1994 - seventh place. But comparing that time with the present is completely incorrect. At that time, all elite sports in our country were experiencing a severe crisis. After the collapse of the USSR, the leading players went to foreign clubs, and this applies not only to volleyball players, but also to many mentors. It was very difficult to gather everyone together, and there was no clear plan of action. After two fifth places at the European Championships, Gennady Shipulin came to the post of head coach in 1998, and since then we gradually began to forget what it was like not to be among the winners. The fans' appetites grew stronger and stronger. Second and third places at major tournaments became the norm; all I wanted was victories. So we came to the conclusion that the “bronze” of the Athens Olympics seemed to some to be “stagnation” in the results. Alas, after Shipulin’s resignation, Gayich failed to cope with the role of “messiah”.
By and large, there is no fundamental difference between fifth and eighth place at the World Championships. Only the number of points earned towards the world ranking depends on the final positions. Nevertheless, a serious fight is expected in the Russia-Italy match. After all, in case of defeat, our team under the leadership of Gayich rolls back a dozen years in terms of results, and for our opponents, not getting into the top 5 becomes the worst performance in the last 20 years. Naturally, in the upcoming match the opponents will try to somehow save their face.
Group "E"
| 1. Poland | 7 | 0 | 556:479=1.161 | 21:2 | 14 |
| 2. Serbia and Chern. | 6 | 1 | 561:479=1.171 | 18:5 | 13 |
| 3. Russia | 5 | 2 | 545:461=1.182 | 17:6 | 12 |
| 4. Japan | 4 | 3 | 600:607=0.988 | 12:14 | 11 |
| 5. Puerto Rico | 2 | 5 | 625:654=0.956 | 10:17 | 9 |
| 6. Canada | 2 | 5 | 527:605=0.871 | 7:19 | 9 |
| 7. Argentina | 1 | 6 | 621:674=0.921 | 9:20 | 8 |
| 8. Tunisia | 1 | 6 | 612:688=0.890 | 9:20 | 8 |
Group "F"
| 1. Brazil | 6 | 1 | 589:510=1.155 | 19:5 | 13 |
| 2. Bulgaria | 6 | 1 | 645:601=1.073 | 19:9 | 13 |
| 3. France | 5 | 2 | 679:640=1.061 | 18:12 | 12 |
| 4. Italy | 4 | 3 | 606:564=1.074 | 16:11 | 11 |
| 5. USA | 3 | 4 | 579:619=0.935 | 12:15 | 10 |
| 6. Germany | 2 | 5 | 577:609=0.947 | 10:16 | 9 |
| 7. Czech Republic | 1 | 6 | 565:602=0.939 | 6:19 | 8 |
| 8. Cuba | 1 | 6 | 523:618=0.846 | 6:19 | 8 |