Italy shocks Poland, Bulgaria drop Czechia to set up World Championship final

Italy will play in their second consecutive final at the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship, facing Bulgaria, which are due to feature only for the second time in history in the battle for gold, after the two European sides eliminated Czechia and Poland in Saturday’s semi-finals.

Italy will play for the world title for the sixth time in history, after a complete 3:0 win over Poland (25:21; 25:22; 25:23) in the most anticipated match of the competition bar the final.

Down 11:7 in the first set, Italy bounced back and produced some fantastic volleyball, as Yuri Romanò and Alessandro Michieletto had 15 and 12 points respectively throughout the match.

While Poland did have more blocks than Italy (10-9) throughout the match, Italy were better in the decisive moments, including in the second set, when they were down 22:21, but went on a 4:0 unanswered run to move closer to the final.

Poland started better the third set, leading by as many as five points, 14:9, but once again faltered under the Italian pressure, with captain Simone Giannelli producing another fantastic display setting his teammates up. Eventually, Italy took a 25:23 win to secure their second consecutive finals berth, aiming to win their fifth world title in history.

On the other hand, Bulgaria are in contention for a world title for the first time in 55 years, after losing the last act of the competition against East Germany in 1970 on their home court.

The semi-final against Czechia marked yet another fantastic performance from the dark horses of the competition, which have, so far, secured wins in all the six matches they played, conceding only five sets.

It was a nip and tuck battle throughout the whole match, with only minor details deciding the winner, as Bulgaria took the first set, 25:20, only to concede the second, 23:25.

However, with top scorer Aleksandar Nikolov in fine form, producing 31 points, they pulled through in the third (25:21) and fourth sets (25:22), to provide a fantastic opportunity for themselves, winning the maiden world title.

“Incredible! I am lost for words… We are medalists of this World Championship and I can’t believe it! Tomorrow we are just going to try to color the medal in gold. But we have a medal, so we are happy. It definitely felt like a really good game. I owed it to the guys after the bad start against the US. They pulled me out in that game and we managed to win a great quarterfinal. I had to repay them by playing this game like I did, so I am happy that I could,” Nikolov told VBTV.

The final will be played in Pasay City, on Sunday, at 12:30 CEST, with Italy aiming for their fifth title, while Bulgaria have alreasy secured their sixth medal in the competition and the first since winning bronze in 2006.

The bronze medal match is scheduled at 08:30 CEST, between Czechia and Poland.