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Our team went to the World League final from the USA
The intercontinental round of the World League with the participation of the 16 strongest men's volleyball teams on the planet has ended. Following the results of the group stage in the “Final Six”, which will take place on July 21-25 in the Argentine city of Cordoba, in addition to the hosts, Russia, Brazil, Italy, Cuba and Serbia will compete.Our team, under the leadership of Italian specialist Daniele Bagnoli, went to the matches of the final, sixth round in the USA from Finland, practically guaranteeing themselves participation in the decisive stage. Formalities remained - not to lose to the Olympic champions too devastatingly. Even despite the 0:3 defeat in the first match in Wichita (Kansas), the Russians entered the second game as holders of tickets to the Final Six. The victory of our team in the next game (3:1) removed all questions regarding who will go to Argentina as the participant who took second place with the best additional indicators. The Stars and Stripes, having previously lost two precious points in Egypt (victories 3:2 and 3:2), were unable to catch up with Serbia.
In the year of the world championship, the World League, of course, is not considered as the main competition of the season. However, Russia has not had a single big victory since 2002, which is why fans of domestic volleyball are watching the commercial tournament with interest. An unexpected away defeat to Finland (1:3) and a misfire in Wichita did not allow Bagnoli's team to demonstrate the best result in the preliminary stage. Brazil and Cuba have one more victory.
The most vivid impressions from the game of the Russian national team were the confident performance of the newcomer to the national squad, blocker Dmitry Musersky, and the worthy return to the main team of the country after a five-year break of the finishing player Taras Khtey. Both volleyball players represent Belgorod Lokomotiv-Belogorye. In a number of matches, Musersky became the most productive among the Russians, which is very rare for a player of his role, and even more so for a debutant. As a result, the giant Musersky (height 218 cm) in 12 matches took second place in the list of top scorers of our team (137 points), second only to diagonal striker Maxim Mikhailov (159).
Khtey appeared in the starting lineup in absolutely all matches and, in fact, was irreplaceable on the court. His colleagues in the role, Pavel Abramov and Yuri Berezhko, missed certain matches due to injuries and the consequences of old injuries. The first season in the national team for libero Valery Komarov, who made his debut at such a high level at the age of 30, can be considered quite worthy. Let us remind you that the best libero in Russia, Alexei Verbov, in agreement with the coaching staff and the leadership of the All-Russian Volleyball Federation, is skipping the World League, but he is ready to compete at the World Cup.
Throughout the tournament, the Russians traditionally served well (in terms of aces, Musersky and Mikhailov rank third and fourth in the overall list of players in the World League), operated successfully on the block (the Belgorod giant has no equal here at all), but, as always, had problems with receiving. In terms of effectiveness of actions in this element of the game, the best of our volleyball players, Taras Khtey, ranks only 20th.
Russia will compete in the Final Six with Italy (the game will take place on July 21) and Cuba (the 22nd). If Bagnoli's team makes it to the semi-finals, they will have a day off before this important match, unlike, for example, Brazil, which is our potential rival. The reigning world champions played with full dedication at the end of the group stage, not allowing themselves any concessions. Before the last away match with Bulgaria, the South Americans had already guaranteed themselves first place in the group, but the hosts of the arena still did not allow them to win, tipping the scales in their favor in the fifth set. It is interesting that the Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna officially seats 5,500 spectators, but 7,120 fans gathered in the stands - this is 130% of the hall's occupancy.
Our first opponent in the Final Six, thanks mainly to the efforts of veterans Alessandro Fei and Luigi Mastrangelo, solved the tournament problem in Belgrade, taking four points in two games. In general, the Italians held a stable group stage, and suffered all three defeats in a tiebreaker. The Cuban national team, the backbone of which is talented and jumping youth, achieved victories in all six away matches. The only misfire occurred in the home match with the Poles. Although group "D" was far from the strongest. The Argentines completely gave up on the intercontinental round, losing all their matches. The mentor of the Final Six hosts, Javier Weber, could afford to vary the composition to the maximum number of combinations and experiment as much as he wanted, because the result did not dominate him. As a result, an absolute anti-record for the World League was born. Never before has the team of the host country of the decisive stage had a zero in the victory column at the preliminary stage.
It is extremely difficult to make any forecasts for the performance of our team in Argentina. How many times in recent years has it happened that Russian volleyball players approached the most important tournaments of the international calendar in excellent shape, started these competitions powerfully, but in the main matches they suddenly stopped looking like themselves and suffered defeats, often remembered for their weak-willed play. Perhaps the main thing now is to completely eliminate relapses of this long-standing disease.
Despite the fact that there is still plenty of time before the Final Six, our team headed to Argentina straight from the USA and will prepare for the tournament at the site of the upcoming events.
Results. World League. Intercontinental round. 6th round. Group "C". USA - Russia - 3:0 (25:21, 27:25, 25:23), 1:3 (18:25, 25:22, 17:25, 19:25). Egypt - Finland - 0:3, 3:0. Position: Russia - 29 points (10 wins - 2 losses), USA - 23 (8--4), Finland - 12 (4--8), Egypt - 8 (2--10). Group "A". Bulgaria - Brazil - 1:3, 2:3. Holland - Korea - 3:0, 3:1. Position: Brazil - 30 (11--1), Bulgaria - 26 (8--4), Holland - 16 (5--7), Korea - 0 (0--12). Group "B". Serbia - Italy - 1:3, 3:2. China - France - 2:3, 2:3. Position: Italy - 28 (9--3), Serbia - 26 (9--3), France - 12 (5--7), China - 6 (1--11). Group "D". Poland - Germany - 2:3, 3:1. Argentina - Cuba - 2:3, 0:3. Position: Cuba - 26 (10--1), Germany - 21 (7--5), Poland - 19 (6--6), Argentina - 3 (0--11).