Press release

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 2, 2011 – The second day at the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Junior World Championship at the Maracanazinho and Caio Martins Gymnasiums in Rio and Niteroi should prove to be exciting as teams jockey for the top two positions in their pools. While a bunch of them are trying to stay around Copacabana Beach, there are others in hopes of traveling over Rio-Niteroi Bridge across Guanabara Bay for the final round in Rio de Janeiro.

Pool A

Brazil v United States

Following the catastrophic loss in five sets to Japan when they committed 40 errors, the home boys come back into action against the impressive American side fresh from a straight-set victory over Bulgaria in Pool A. Brazilian top guns Ricardo Souza (22) and Eduardo Loh (18) joined forces to register 40 points in the loss and will have to be at their best to keep alive Brazil’s chances of moving to the top-eight bracket. Setter Micah Christenson and outside hitter Taylor Sander form an explosive tandem for USA.

Japan v Bulgaria

The other match of Pool A on Tuesday, pits resilient Japan with its formidable field defense, with the towering Bulgarians. The victory of Japan in five sets over Brazil was worth only two points, so the boys from the Rising Sun need to keep adding to their account. The team from Bulgaria played two close sets against United States and seems to be a tough opponent. Takashi Dekita’s 27 points on Monday were second only to the 31 scored by the German Simon Hirst, and Yamato Fushimi looks like the complete package.

Pool B

Puerto Rico v Spain

In the morning, Puerto Rico (0-1) will have to play the first match for a second day, taking on Spain (1-0) at 10 a.m. local time. Puerto Rico is hoping to play better than it did against Argentina on Monday, when the South Americans won, 3-1 (23-25 25-17 25-19 25-17).
Spain was more than happy with its 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-17) win over Tunisia on Monday. But Spain head coach Francisco Hervas was not ready to proclaim his team the best of Pool B. “The kids are not used to playing every day,” Hervas said. “So we will have to see what happens.”

Argentina v Tunisia

The second Pool B match for Tuesday will see Argentina (1-0) take on Tunisia (0-1). Tunisia will need to focus on its own side of the net and avoid errors, which is how Argentina scored more than a third of its total points against Puerto Rico. Argentina was led in scoring on Monday by Ivan Castellani while Tunisia’s top scorer was Racem Siala.

Pool C

The first Pool D match is set to begin at 4 p.m. local time on Tuesday, when Canada (0-1) will play against Belgium (0-1). Both teams lost straight-set matches on Monday and will be looking for a little redemption. Canada is looking for its first world championship match victory ever as it is competing for the first time in the event.
Belgium will try to bounce back from its loss to Serbia, which its captain, Sam Deroo, called “the worse game in our history as a team.”
When asked about how he will help his team bounce back, Belgium coach Steven Vanmedegael said, “In this tournament you don’t get a lot of time to prepare. We will give the players time to rest and then watch the video and see what points of the game went wrong. And then we will see what happens.”