Brazil – Bulgaria? This game was not worthy of a name “semifinal”. It can be brought up only one mathematical value to confirm this statement. 31%! This hundredth of a number shows how many points of all were a result of unforced errors. Bulgarian totally lost its head and donated two first sets for free, but Brazil did not want to be debt giving the third part by mistakes. The last set easily fell prey to “Canarinhos”, who will face Russia in Sunday’s World League Final.
Brazil – Bulgaria 3 – 1 (25-12, 25-17, 23-25, 25-16)
Brazil: Bruno 2, Dante 7, Isac 9, Wallace 24, Lucarelli 15, Lucas 10, Mario Jr. (L) and William, Fonteles 2, Mauricio 2
Bulgaria: G. Bratoev 2, Aleksiev 16, Gotsev 3, Sokolov 6, Skrimov 1, Yosifov 5, Salparov (L) and Milushev 5, Dimotrov, V. Bratoev 7, Penchev
The win, Brazil’s 11th in 13 matches in this year’s World League, continued Brazil’s impressive World League record against Bulgaria which now stands at 18:3, including two 3-1 wins during the Intercontinental Round in Brasília.
With middle blocker Isac starting for the first time in the Finals, they charged to a 10-7 lead after Lucarelli blocked Bulgarian powerhouse Tsvetan Sokolov before advancing to 22-11 as Bulgaria, who had reached consecutive World League semifinals for the first time in World League history, looked desperately amongst themselves for some inspiration. Their receiving, passing and attacking accuracy all going astray. Wallace, who would go onto to top score in the game with 24 points, was particularly impressive registering seven as a beautiful floating serve from Bruno sealed the first set, Brazil’s 1,000th in World League history.
The second set was a similar picture with the nine-time World League champions keeping Bulgaria scoreless while registering four themselves. Bulgaria’s major attacking weapon and top scorer in the competition Sokolov finally got last year’s fourth placed team – their best ever World League result – on the board. The rest of the set went with ebbs and flows as skipper Todor Aleksiev closed the gap to 7-5 with a delicious spike down the line but Wallace helped extend the lead out to 14-9 with a smashing cross court kill. Wallace and Bruno were guilty of miscommunication soon after when a set went unattended at 15-11 but that only sparked the world champions into action, who rattled off three points before it was soon set point. Despite a challenge from Bulgaria, Brazil had the second set 25-17.
Bulgaria led for the first time since the first point of the match when Aleksiev sent down an ace to lead 1-0 before Valentin Bratoev put the Brazilian reception under enormous pressure with outstanding serving. Bulgaria led 8-4 and 9-5 when Georgi Brateov blocked Lucarelli. The lead went out to 11-5 before Brazil fought their way back to 18-16 down. In a big call, Bulgaria coach Camillo Placi subbed off Sokolov and when Svetoslav Gotsev spiked into the net and then was called for a double touch, it looked to be the wrong one however, Bulgaria did enough to keep their noses ahead as Aleksiev spiked off the block to take the match to the fourth set. Dante, who suffered a knee injury in the penultimate rally of the set, stood out the rest of the match.
The fourth set started more even than any of the previous three as, with the score at 8-7, Placi brought on his bench looking for a way to unsettle the favourites. However Bernardinho did the same and it brought immediate dividends for Brazil. Bruno serving they rushed out to a 12-7 lead thanks to Wallace who was on fire. Danail Milushev finally converted a cross court spike to break the run but Brazil were back on a roll, soon leading 16-9. Although Aleksiev tried to inspire his troops with some devastating spiking and deft touches it was to no avail as Lucarelli wrapped up the match with his 15th point of the game.
Team Stats:
ActionsSpike pointsSpike %BlockServeDigReceptionSets noteUnforced ErrorsBrazil5655%872958%10.525Bulgaria3637%811455%9.2527
Leaders Fight:
Actions/PlayersPointsSpike pointsSpike %Spike errorsBlockServeUnforced ErrorsWallace242067%1225Tsvetan Sokolov6621%80012
Picture: FIVB
Description: FIVB