Only Cuba can be sure their participation in the final tournament. Brazil is a favorite in rivalry with Bulgaria but team of coach Silvano Prandi for sure will do their best to win.
Serbia and Italy got the same chances and this competition should be the most exciting. Russia is close to participation in the Final Six and to achieve that got to win against USA at least once.
From the beginning of this year’s World League competition there was only one favorite in the pool A, Brazil. However "canarinhos" weren’t in the brilliant shape all the time and lost some important points during the rivalry. Especially their loss against Netherlands was a big surprise. Meanwhile Bulgaria kept their good shape and in this way managed to get the same amount of points as favorite. Now everything is up to the games between Bulgaria and Brazil and the winner takes all. Supported by the amazing fans Bulgaria for sure will feel able to overcome their rivals and will fight for the victory. We might expect two wonderful volleyball shows played at the extremely high level. It’s not everyday when Brazil needs to fight for the success till the last ball!
The similar situation is in the pool B. Serbia and Italy are fighting for the pole position in the pool from the beginning of the competition. For the first 5 weeks one step closer to the final tournament was Serbia but after last week’s unexpected loss against France Italy managed to get the same amount of points and everything can happen. In this rivalry there is no clear favorite and this fact makes it so thrilling. Serbia got better attack while Italians are perfect at defense and counterattacks. Both teams got to play at their best all the time because exactly like in case of games between Brazil and Bulgaria the winner takes all.
Also pool C should bring us many emotions. Russia was unbeaten till last week when Finland managed to find a recipe against them and caused a major surprise by winning with "sborna". Russia is leading the pool, with 26 points gained and is followed by USA with 20 points. This means that reigning Olympic champions still got chances to win the pool if they beat twice Russia. However according to the style and shape showed by Americans last week this is rather unlikely. Russia is strong as a team and their power comes from the teamwork but USA have problems with communication on the pool and their force depends on the shape of individuals like Sean Rooney or David Lee. Russia seems to be a better team than USA in every single way, especially in serve and attack however American block is a powerful weapon.
Cuba is the first team which made it to the final tournament and is waiting for the games against Argentina with calm. Poland and Germany lost their chances to promote to Final Six last week but this rivalry is prestigious for both teams for some other reason. Current coach of Poland Daniel Castellani will meet his predecessor Raul Lozano. Also several thousand of Polish fans are expected to arrive in the Spodek hall to watch the games.
