USA and Canada advance to Tokyo, Cuba is going home

 

HIROSHIMA, Japan, November 29, 2006.- The USA confirmed their place in the classification matches of the FIVB Men’s World Championship with a comfortable straight sets win over Cuba.

The Cubans had gone into the match aiming to snatch the USA's ticket to Tokyo, but the 25-22, 25-17, 25-22 score line ended their hopes and sent them out of the competition.

The result gives the US a final second round win-loss record of 3-4, which was enough to secure fifth place in Pool F.

 

Defending champions Brazil claimed top honors in the race for Pool F after they defeated main rivals and previously unbeaten Bulgaria 3-1. The Olympic gold medalists won 25-22, 20-25, 25-22, 25-16 and head into the semi-finals as favorites to retain their title.

 

In Sendai, Poland finished top of Pool E and kept their unbeaten record with a straight sets victory over Serbia-Montenegro. The Poles won 28-26, 25-19, 25-19 against an off-form Serbia-Montenegro, who lost their first match of the tournament. Both teams had already qualified for the semifinals.

 

Also in Sendai, Canada came back from the dead to win an epic five-setter against Argentina to advance to the final round at the expense of their opponents. On the final day of second-round action, Canada won 19-25, 18-25, 25-21, 25-20, 15-13 to improve to 2-5 and clinch sixth position in Pool E.

 

Back to Hiroshima, a tenacious Tunisia ended their World Championships campaign on a winning note, beating Puerto Rico 3-2 in a Pool E marathon. The Africans won their first match of the second round, 38-40, 28-26, 16-25, 25-22, 15-11 to end with a 1-6 record and drop Puerto Rico to 2-5. Tunisia was already eliminated and Puerto Rico had a place in the group for the 9-12 positions in Tokyo.

 

USA coach Hugh McCutcheon: "Cuba is a very good volleyball team. We knew that, and we were doing everything we could to prepare for this match, not only because it was meaningful for us, but because we knew how dangerous they can be. Our team played a good match, and our setter Donald Suxho did a nice job. The guys stuck to the game plan pretty well. The second thing that needs to be recognized is that Cuba played late last night and had to come here first thing in the morning to play. We hope to keep building and getting better. We will go to Tokyo to keep trying to win."

 

Cuba coach Roberto Garcia: "We had the tactics and strategy, but we didn't make it happen. The USA played very well in defense, and their setter had a good match. But it was good for Cuba because a lot of young players who got experience against a strong team like the USA."

David Mckinzie topped the USA scorers with 17 points, James Polster had 14 and Ryan Millar added 11. Cuban Michael Sanchez had 10 points.

 

Canada coach Glenn Hoag: “In the first two sets, we tended to make mistakes and it was tough to play. We have a mixed team with young and experienced players and it sometimes works well and sometimes doesn't. Louis-Pierre Mainville came in to stabilize the game and it enabled Scott Koskie to distribute the ball better. We have been prepared for this competition since last summer and I didn't know why we weren't able to do better in the second round because we have a good set of players. It must have been a mental and not a technical problem. Today, the players decided to turn it on and that's why we won.

 

Fred Winters led Canada with 22 points. Paul Duerden contributed 16 points, Steve Brinkman and Murray Grapentine had 12 apiece and Mainville added 11. Argentinean Marcos Milinkovic was the best scorer of the match with 25.

Puerto Rico coach Carlos Cardona: “I did not think the game today was not important, even though we were already qualified to go to the next round. We try to play every game in this tournament to improve our performance, but today our players were not quite as good as they usually are. Besides, the Tunisia team did not make a lot of mistakes and played very well.                                                                      

Puerto Rican Hector Soto continued to increase his leading scoring totals with 36 points, Luis Rodriguez and Victor Rivera had 21 and 19 respectively and Rene Estevez and Jose Rivera had 12 points apiece.