Poland vs. Brazil in final of World Championship

Katowice, Poland, September 21, 2014.  Three-time defending champions will face host Poland in the gold medal match of the 2014 FIVB Men’s World Championship as the South American giant continues seeking an unprecedented fourth consecutive title in the history of the competition.

The top world-ranked Brazil survived a big scare to edge France by 3:2 (25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-12) in the first semifinal encounter played in front of a full house at Spodek Arena of Katowice on Saturday.

“We want to make history making everything possible to put the name of Brazil in the history of volleyball,” Brazil’s captain Bruno Rezende expressed.  “It is our chance to do something that has never been done before.”

France’s coach Laurent Tillie expressed his disappointment after the match, but at the same time he said it is time to continue forward.

“We have to swallow this loss but need to keep improving,” Tillie said.  “We have to try to win the bronze medal as we want to continue our road to the Rio Olympics.”

In the second match of the penultimate day of action, the world ‘s fourth-ranked Poland defeated Germany by 3:1 (26-24, 28-26, 23-25, 25-21) to gain the promotion to their second gold medal match.  Poland, crowned forty years ago in Mexico City when the competition was played under a round-robin format, entered the finals in 2006 losing the decisive match to Brazil by 0:3 in Japan.

"We showed once again that we are a team with character," Poland’s captain Michal Winiarski commented at the post-match press conference.  "I am looking forward to a dream final."

“I am very proud of my team,” said Vital Heynen, the Belgian coach of Germany, “but Poland deserved to win.”

Russia swept Iran by 3:0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-18) in the match for fifth position at Atlas Arena in Lodz.  This way as many as four European teams found their places among the top five of the World Championship.

Both Brazil and Poland have suffered one defeat during the tournament. For the Brazilians it came from the match against the Poles, as they succumbed to them by 2:3 in their third round contest.  The two teams will battle for gold on Sunday, starting at 20:25 local time in Katowice, following the bronze medal game between France and Germany, scheduled for 16:40.

Click here for more info on the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship Poland 2014.