Former Italian star Zorzi have his say about National Volleyball Team

Former Italian volleyball star Andrea Zorzi thinks Italy are looking good to win the FIVB World League on current form, and warns that Iran may have missed their chance to qualify after running Russia close on Wednesday in his latest video blog.

“USA were unpredictably dominated by Italy, and the home side can win with the skills of Zaytsev and Kovar,” he says. “The USA attack was average, not good enough to win.” 

Iran, meanwhile will have to beat Brazil on Friday to get through. “Iran were in control at the end of set four, but Russia eventually won quite easily. Ghafour performed really well for Iran, but Brazil are a better side now than when Iran beat them.”

FIVB World League Group 3 Semifinal schedule announced - Volleyball News

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has recently announced the semifinal schedule for Group 3 of the World League. The news was released from the FIVB headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

According to the schedule, teams from Cuba and China will contest their skills in the first semifinal on 28th June. The Bursa Cengiz Gollu Volleyball Hall in Turkey will provide the backdrop for the match.

Next up, home team Turkey will take on Slovakia in the second semifinal.

The 2014 edition of the FIVB World League will feature a total of 28 teams, which will be divided into three groups, with Group 3 consisting of Pools F and G, both with four teams each.

The round-robin play of the tournament was played in the first two weeks of this month. As a result, Cuba won Pool F with a 5-1 record, whereas Turks were second with a 4-2 record. Mexico (2-4) were third and Tunisia (1-5) fourth.

Nonetheless, Turkey is already confirmed for the Final Four for being the hosts of the competition. It means the second-placed team in Pool G would take the final spot.

On the other hand, China topped Pool G with a 5-1 record, followed by Slovakia (3-3), Spain (2-4) and Puerto Rico (2-4). Slovakia qualified as the best second-placed team.

The Final Four for Pools C, D and E will take place on the weekend of July 11-13, with the winner there advancing to the Final Six for Pools A and B from July 16 to 20.

Iran hammers Brazil in the FIVB World League match

Brazilian and Iranian men's volleyball squads battled out their skills in Pool A of the FIVB World League on Friday. The latter proved to be better and sent Brazil to defeat in a five-set thriller 3-2 (18-25, 27-25, 20-25, 25-17, 15-9).

Iran lost their opening Pool A match against Brazil 3-2 in Brazil last week before routing the Olympic silver medallists 3-0 in their second match. On home turf in Tehran on Friday, the Iranians recovered from 0-1 and 1-2 to edge the Brazilians 3-2 (18-25, 27-25, 20-25, 25-17, 15-9). The local fans supported the team and backed up with screams and shouts.

“Most volleyball experts described Iran as the weakest team in the World League, but the reality is something different,” Iran captain Saeid Marouf said. "We have always been backed by the fans, who double our motivation to win, even against the world champions Brazil. I believe the engines of volleyball in Iran are working very well.”

Argentina earns victory over Japan at the FIVB World League – Volleyball News

The men clad in sky blue and white shirts bagged a great victory by defeating Japan in Pool D of the FIVB World League. Team Argentina stayed on the winning course from start to end and improved its record to 4-3. They captured all three sets 25-21, 25-20, 25-15 and stunned the home audience at Komaki Park Arena in Komaki, Japan.

Argentina was supported by Lucas Ocampo and Sebastian Sole, who scored 16 and 10 points respectively. On the other hand, Yu Koshikawa struggled for Japan with 12 points, while Kunihiro Shimizu added 10. Nonetheless, the team Japan failed to subdue the stronger opponent.

Both teams started out well and displayed a great show. Japanese side led the score initially, but Argentina got hold of the game later on. Japan tried to outdo Argentina but dropped the opening set 21-25.

The visiting team continued with winning pace in the second and improved to 2-0. In the third, Ocampo’s spike put Argentina to a 6-5 lead. Japan fought back to go up 7-6 on a Koshikawa spike. A reception error by Japan saw Argentina up 8-7 at the first TTO. Chijiki could not handle an Argentina serve and it was 13-8 as Japan struggled to maintain contact. Argentina was up 16-11 at the second TTO. Japan took a timeout while trailing 18-12. Martin Ramos connected with a spike for 22-13 as Argentina moved to close out the match. A Koshikawa spike made it 22-15 but the outcome appeared inevitable. Argentina finished it out with one final spike 25-15

Portugal beats Korea in Pool E of the FIVB World League – Volleyball News

Men’s volleyball team from Portugal claimed 3-1 (25-21, 25-18, 15-25, 25-20) victory over
Korea this Saturday. The Korean city Ulsan provided backdrop for the match, but the local fans
were greatly disappointed.

With this particular win, Portugal improved to 3-2 in Pool E of the FIVB World League.

In the opening set of the match, both teams had a lot of service misses which affected the run of the game. Jeon helped Korea stay close to 22-21 but too many mistakes in the closing moments gave an edge to Portugal, and they took the set 25-21.

Portugal continued to have the upper hand in the following set and extended their lead to 2-0.
Nevertheless, the Koreans fought back and managed to win the third set of the match with a
lead of 10 point 25-15. The happiness was short-lived as Portugal used their blocking to fight
back in the fourth set. Valdir Sequeira attacked well from the right and led Portugal to an
amazing 3-1 victory.

Alexandre Ferreira scored 16 points for Portugal, while Jeon Kwang-In was Korea’s top scorer
with 15 points. Portuguese team led in blocking points (12-3) and service points (7-5). Moreover, the visitors committed 29 errors to hosts’ 33.