Canada unbeaten, the Netherlands wins against Brazil, USA-Russia 3:1. Recap of day 4.

POOL A @ Florence
Belgium – Slovenia 2-3 (25-22, 25-21, 19-25, 23-25, 13-15)
Great comeback of Slovenia, from 0-2 to 3-2 against Belgium, and so, they have never experienced a bitter taste of a defeat at the World Championship on this moment! The team of the Serbian coach Slobodan Kovac, has managed to mantain the control in the third set and to came out as the winners in a very difficult fourth set, 25-23. Also the tie-break was very uncertain but the Slovenian clinch the game, 3-2. For Slovenia, Alen Sket was the top scorer with 21 points, followed by Tine Urnaut with 18 and Mitja Gasparini with 13. On the other side, Bram Van den Dries ended a game with 18, followed by Sem Deroo with 17 points.

Italy – Argentina 3-1 (22-25, 25-15, 25-23, 28-26)
Juantorena and Zaytsev save Italy in match against Argentina. Italy had a really difficult match against Argentina in the last match of this day of World Championship. Osmany Juantorena with 23 points and Ivan Zaytsev with 20 points were the players who pushed Italy to the victory. A great Argentina back to the match also in 4rth set, even if Italy was always ahead. Congratulations to Michele Baranowicz who closed the match with an ace! Cristian Poglajen was the best scorer in Argentina with 18 points.

Standings
Italy 9 Points (3-0)
Slovenia 8 Points (3-0)
Belgium 4 Points (1-2)
Argentina 3 Points (1-2)
Japan 3 Points (1-2)
Dominican Republic 0 Points (0-3)

POOL B @ Ruse
Canada – China 3-1 (25-22, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23)
Canada still perfect after three matches! After taking the first two sets, the Chinese team has surprised them by winning the third set. However, Canada won the fourth set and clinched the game. It was the third win of Stephane Antiga’s team who will definitely play in the second round. John Perrin had a good match, finishing with 26 points, while Chuan Jiang had 19 points on the other side.

Netherlands – Brazil 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-21)
Incredible….Netherlands beat Brazil at World Championship for the first time in 52 years (the last win before yesterday, happened in Czechoslovakia in 1966!). Wouter Ter Maat was the top scorer of the match with 16 points, while Thijs Ter Horst added 15 and Michael Parkinson 13 in the Dutch team. On the other side, Douglas Souza and Lucas Saatkamp had 13 points each, while Wallace de Souza ended the match with 10.

Standings
Canada 9 points (3-0)
France 7 points (2-1)
Netherlands 6 points
Brazil 2-1 5 points (2-1)
China 0 points (0-3)
Egypt 0 points (0-3)

POOL C @ Bari
Serbia – Tunisia 3-1 (20-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-20)
A fierce Tunisia take one set, but Serbia victorious! Tunisia have won her first set at the World championship, putting Serbia in a difficult situation, and the head coach Nikola Grbic had to wake up his team. So, Serbia got serious after losing the first set and won comeback to stay in the race for the top place of the Pool C. Drazen Luburic with 16 points, followed by Uros Kovacevic with 14 and Marko Ivovic with 11 were the best scorers in Serbia, while Ali Bongui, author of an excellent match, had 27 points!

USA – Russia 3-1 (25-23, 20-25, 25-23, 25-20)
Fantastic volleyball war in Bari, where USA won against another favorite, Russia. The clash of the two undefeated teams of the Pool C went well for the United States, which heve opened the match in a much better way, winning the first set. However, in the second set, Russia, with a great Muserskyi, has answered back by winning with five points of difference! John Speraw’s team played very well in the third set, and even though Russia start with an advantage in the fourth set, the USA set the control, especially in defense and won the match.

Standings
USA 7 points (3-0)
Serbia 7 points (2-1)
Russia 6 points (2-1)
Australia 4 points (1-2)
Cameroon 3 poins (1-2)
Tunisia 0 points (0-3)

POOL D @ Varna
Cuba – Iran 1-3 (25-17, 18-25, 22-25, 19-25)
Iran had to make a comeback in the match against Cuba in their third game at the World Championship. Cuba had a good start, taking the first set 25-17. However, as of the second set, Igor Kolakovic’s team played at a much higher level, to keep the first place in Pool D. It seems that they will play against Poland for the first place of the Pool. Top scorer of the match were Amir Ghafour with 14 points and Mohamad Manavi with 13, while on the other side Osniel Hernandez scored 22 points. Cuba have three defeats so far, and they need a miracle.

Poland – Finland 3-1 (25-20, 26-28, 25-16, 25-15)
Reigning champions of Poland needed four sets to win against Finland. After taking the first set, it looked like Poland have everything under control. However, in the second part of the match, Finland answered by winning an extended set. In the third and fourth set, Finland have barely scored 16 and 15 points. Artur Szalpuk played a good match, scoring 19 points, followed by Mateusz Bieniek had 14, Bartosz Kurek 13 and Michal Kubiak 12. On the other side, Samuli Kaislasalo ended the game with 14 points.