The Russian team led by Serbian coach Zoran Gayich took third place, losing to the Brazilians in the semifinals. The Moscow public personally witnessed the last serious test of the forces of the best volleyball teams before the November World Cup.
Nine years ago, when Moscow first hosted the World League final, volleyball was played according to the old rules. Set - up to 15 points, without libero, without all those inventions of Ruben Acosta, which in recent years have made the game so dynamic and telegenic. The Russian national team, which then failed the preliminary stage (10 defeats in 12 matches), was admitted to the final tournament as a hostess, won three victories in the “Olympic” (over Bulgaria, Brazil and the Netherlands) and took the final third place. In the 97th, this was a solid achievement.
This time, the Russian team was categorized as the tournament’s favorites without any reservations. However, the division into favorites and outsiders in today's volleyball elite is rather arbitrary. In principle, any of the six teams that arrived in Moscow could count on a victory and a million prize-winning ones. A little more - Brazilians. A little less - all the rest.
The Brazilian team on a special account is no coincidence: since 2001, from the moment that the men's team was previously headed by Bernardinho, who had previously successfully worked with the women's team, it remains unbeatable in all major tournaments. The only exception was, paradoxically, the home league of the World League 2002. In Belo Horizonte, the invincible won ... the Russian team.
It is clear that in the Luzhniki Stadium, on the Small Sports Arena (where, by the way, volleyball returned after a 15-year break), it was advisable to avoid meetings with the Brazilians to the hosts - just like everyone else, until the last game day. However, the rules of the final tournament left them no choice. The first of two matches Russia - Brazil was played on Friday. Moreover, by the time it started, it was already known that in less than a day the rivals would meet again - in the semifinals.
The coaches' natural desire not to reveal their trump cards - firstly, and to save the players ’strengths - secondly, led the leaders of both teams to start the match on the bench. Bernardinho released Andre Eller only in the third set, at the same time Zoran Gayich introduced Alexei Kazakov into the game, a little later - Semyon Poltavsky, and Sergei Tetyukhin never appeared on the set. As a result, viewers saw something similar to a serious fight only in the fourth and fifth games, and the number of mistakes made by the players of the two teams exceeded all reasonable limits. The victory at the tie-break went to the guests.
But the next day was already a completely different volleyball. In the first two sets of the match, which became the decoration of the tournament, the Brazilians were a little more stable. Gayich changed the binder, and this helped: the experienced Konstantin Ushakov was much more likely to deceive the blockers than Sergei Grankin. The ending of the set turned into a sniper duel Poltava - Zhiba. The Russians played four matchballs, and then the decisive effort on the pitch was made by Tetyukhin - 29:27. However, Gayich's wards failed to repeat the feat in the fourth set. From the ninth matchball, the Brazilians nevertheless achieved their goal, won 3-1 in the games and reached the final, where the French were already waiting for them. The Russian team had, like nine years ago, to play for third place.
The Bulgarian team is also not a gift, although the fans are already accustomed to the fact that this is a mood team. Having lost his temper after a dry victory over the Brazilians who had suffered the consequences of acclimatization on the first day of the tournament, Matei Kaziiski and his partners at the group stage did not give the rivals a set. But in the semifinals against the French, the Bulgarians did not go right from the very beginning, and the result was just the opposite. Neither in this match, nor in the next one - with Russia for the third place - they were unable to “hook” in any game and lost twice in 0: 3. It is still very difficult to assess the real potential of the Bulgarian national team, but our fans will be able to form an opinion about the potential of the leading players very soon - the next season Kaziiski, Konstantinov, Zhekov, Ivanov, Stoykov and Salparov will be held in Russian clubs.