WorldCup: Brazil put out USA’s title hopes, Japan win vs. Russia.

Thanks to an almost perfect display on Day 7, Brazil surpassed the USA, probably putting out rival’s title hopes at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball World Cup! Brazil maintained their 100% record at the competion with a 7-0 record after beating defending champs in Hiroshima and pointed out their candidacy to win the title even more. With another great performance, especially in the third set, Brazil knocked down the direct rivals in straight sets (25:23, 25:22, 25:17), moving 5 points (21:16) and two wins ahead of them in the charts. Now, Poland remained the only real title contenders to Brazil. Although winning two sets against the North American side would secure them to stay at the top of the standings, Brazil wanted to take all 3 points. The dominance of Brazil was most visible in the third set when they closed the match with a 9:2 run. Alan Souza was Brazil’s top scorer today with 16 points while Aaron Russell scored the same number of points for the USA.

One more giants became Japan’s victim! The hosts already stunned the volleyball world by beating Italy at the tournament’s opening match and now, they downed also Russia! 3-1 is the final result (25:22, 21:25, 25:22, 25:16)! Yuji Nishida drove the rivals crazy from the service line, scoring 5 aces and finishing the match with game-high 22 points. Pavel Kruglov scored 20 points for Russia, who came to the tournament with the “B” team. Japan stayed in the race for winning a medal (current No.4 with 5-2 and 15 points), while Russia fell to the eighth place on the table (3-4, 9 points).

Poland had an easy job against the team who had a powerful start of the World Cup, Egypt, but who failed to preserve the status in the continuation of the tournament: 3-0 (25:19, 25:18, 25:16). Poland’s head coach Heynen gave the chance to players who did not spend much time on the court in previous matches: Artur Szalpuk took this opportunity and was the top scorer for his team with 15 points, while Karol Kłos made 4 winning blocks. In the absence of Ahmed Abdelhay “Salah”, who did not play due to injury, Hisham Ewais was the top scorer for Egypt with 10 points. Poland are now the nearest followers to the leaders Brazil (6-1, 18 points).
On the other matches, Argentina destroy Canada in straight sets, victory also for Iran vs. Egypt with the same result and for Italy against Australia.

2019 FIVB Volleyball World Cup – Day 7:
Argentina – Canada 3-0 (25:16, 25:22, 25:20)
Poland – Egypt 3-0 (25:19, 25:18, 25:16)
Tunisia – Iran 0-3 (24:26, 17:25, 22:25)
Italy – Australia 3-0 (30:28, 25:13, 25:22)
USA – Brazil 0-3 (23:25, 22:25, 17:25)
Japan – Russia 3-1 (25:22, 21:25, 25:22, 25:16)

•2019 FIVB Volleyball World Cup – Day 6
•2019 FIVB World Volleyball Cup – Day 5
•2019 FIVB World Volleyball Cup – Day 4
•2019 FIVB World Volleyball Cup – Day 3
•2019 FIVB World Volleyball Cup – Day 2
•2019 FIVB World Volleyball Cup – Day 1

Source and photos: worldcup.2019.fivb.com