2014 FIVB Men’s World Championship Preview — Pool B

Here’s our second piece previewing the upcoming FIVB World Championship. Been incredibly busy at work this week, or I’d have liked to have had it out sooner. But, here we are. These are the teams in Pool B:

Brazil
Cuba
Finland
Germany
South Korea
Tunisia

Let’s get to it.

BRAZIL

Current FIVB world ranking: 1st
2014 World League finish: 2nd
2012 Summer Olympics finish: Silver medal
2010 World Championship finish: Champions
Best-ever World Championship finish: Champions (2002, 2006, 2010)

To say that the Brazilians have the most to lose in this event is kiiiiiiind of an understatement. They enter as the top-ranked team in the world, three-time defending world champions, and could lose both of those distinctions (they could lose the former even if they win the championship).

Brazil are practically synonymous with volleyball (it’s a very very close second to soccer in terms of national popularity), so it’s kind of surprising that their first world championship win was in 2002. They’ve medalled at 7 of the last 8 world championships (only a 5th place in 1994 breaks the chain) and are all but a guarantee to be around in the latter stages of the event. Even with their program on what feels like a bit of a down note, it would be one of the biggest shocks in decades if they’re not at least sniffing the medals.

Players to watch for: The whole damn roster basically, but I’ll highlight a few superheroes. Wallace (or Wallace de Souza in full; jersey #4) is one of the top opposite hitters in the world right now, and was recognised as such at World League, winning the honour despite Brazil coming up short in the final match. His counterpart on the left side Ricardo Lucarelli (I guess ‘Ricardo’ is too common a name to go just by that — jersey #10) was also awarded at World League for being one of the top outside hitters. Lucas (Lucas Saatkamp; was known as “Lucão” during the London Olympics but seemingly not anymore; jersey #16) is a devastating middle blocker, and he too got World League all-tournament recognition. Seems hard not to mention floor captain and setter Bruno (Bruno Rezende, son of coach Bernardo “Bernardinho” Rezende; jersey #1) as well, even though he didn’t get the World League Best Setter nod (how disappointing!). Hard to know what to expect from Murilo (Murilo Endres; jersey #8) as he’s battled injuries over the last year or so, but he did play in World League and time was he too was one of the best outsides (and passers) in the world, despite standing just 1.90m. He’s now 33, and despite (or because of) being the reigning World championship MVP, it wouldn’t surprise me too much to see focus taken off him.

As I said, I could keep calling out players for a while, but those are the big ones. Brazil will absolutely make some noise in this tournament.

  CUBA

Current FIVB world ranking: 7th
2014 World League finish: 21st
2012 Summer Olympics finish: Did not participate
2010 World Championship finish: Silver medal
Best-ever World Championship finish: Silver medal (1990, 2010)

Casual fans of the sport would be forgiven for not being acutely aware that Cuba actually are historically pretty strong at volleyball. Their program has fallen on some rather hard times as of late (notwithstanding their near world championship at this event four years ago). Their 2013 World League was an abject disaster, as they won just a single match, costing their coach his job and putting them at the kids’ table for this year’s World League. They won the not-exactly-star-studded Group 3, putting them a hearty 21st for the event as a whole. They haven’t been to the Olympics since 2000, an appearance which was their sixth in eight previous Olympiads dating back to 1976. While it’s granted that Cuba’s history has always been stronger in the women’s game, and having the Americans (and of late, the Canadians) in their continental federation does them no favours, they’ve usually been better off than they are. And it could get worse; most of their world ranking points come from the 2010 worlds, so unless they do that well or better, they’ll tumble in the next rankings, likely out of the top 10.

Players to watch for: Floor captain and outside hitter Rolando Cepeda (jersey #8) is among the most well-rounded players in the world, having solid skills in every phase of the game. Cuba have a brace of excellent liberos, the recently-arrived Yonder Garcia (just 21 years of age; jersey #7) supplementing the buttery-smooth hands of Keibel Gutierrez (jersey #6), one of the very best passers in the world. They split time effectively in World League. Osmany Uriarte (jersey #20) will line up at opposite, replacing the curiously-absent Yordan Bisset. Bisset was one of the few bright spots for Cuba last year, and is just 20 years old himself. I’m not sure why he’s no longer with the team (and it would therefore be pointless to speculate), but were he there I’d definitely consider him a player to watch.

I hate to say it, but I think Cuba are in line to struggle in this event. There’s very few “should win” matches on the docket for them.

FINLAND

Current FIVB world ranking: 26th
2014 World League finish: Joint 16th
2012 Summer Olympics finish: Did not participate
2010 World Championship finish: Did not participate
Best-ever World Championship finish: 17th (1978, 1982) — they did have a higher numerical finish in 1952, 11th, but there were only 11 teams in the event that year

Finland aren’t a team that are going to strike fear in anyone’s hearts the way Brazil or Russia or even the United States will, but they’re on the upswing. After missing out on the last two major quadrennial tournaments, the Finns will be present and accounted for in Poland. They’ve never participated at the Olympics, so they may be best served to view that as a dream rather than a goal (European quallies are pret-ty tough) for a few years more. They didn’t even qualify for the continental championship between 2001 and 2005,  but have each year since. Second-year head coach Tuomas Sammelvuo has got the national team going the right direction.

Players to watch for: Floor captain is outside hitter Antti Siltala (jersey #5). He saw light duty in World League, playing only in Finland’s home matches, and for the latter such matches only about half of them. But chalk that up to rounding into form. Twin brothers Mikko and Matti Oivanen (jerseys #13 and #15 respectively) have been mainstays on the team for a few years now, though Matti didn’t play in the last five weeks of World League. Setter Mikko Esko (jersey #3) has long been a mainstay, too, though the sun is obviously setting on his career as he’ll turn 36 during the tournament. Olli-Pekka Ojansivu (jersey #16) is one of the deadliest serving specialists at the international level — and the fact that he even is a serving specialist at the international level should attest to that. He’s a passable OH against middling competition, but I wouldn’t expect to see him line up in that role during worlds. The team’s leading scorer during World League was outside hitter Urpo Sivula (jersey #10) a player with whom I’m not too familiar, though he is a six-year veteran of the national team.

Finland aren’t pushovers. I’d project them into the second pool round, but that’s probably far enough.

GERMANY

Current FIVB world ranking: 10th
2014 World League finish: Joint 16th
2012 Summer Olympics finish: Joint 5th
2010 World Championship finish: 8th
Best-ever World Championship finish: Champions (1970, as East Germany)

Here’s a case where I really don’t buy the FIVB world ranking. I don’t see Germany as ranking this high, and that much higher than a team like Finland. It’s mainly because the Germans participated in the last Olympics and worlds where the Finns didn’t. That’ll wash out here when the two go head-to-head.

The FIVB consider the current Germany program inheritors of the East German records, giving them the 1970 world championship (and the 1972 Olympic silver medal) to their credit. As Germany per se, this will be their third appearance at the championship (and third consecutive), having been at the last two Olympics as well. They make it there, but since the…. *ahem* ….East German heyday, they haven’t made much noise at the highest level.

Players to watch for: I’m not seeing a lot of names I know on the later World League scoresheets, but floor captain (at the time at least) Dirk Westphal (jersey #7) is one of them. He’s a consistent scorer, if not entirely remarkable. Earlier on in the tournament — perhaps when the Germans had a shot of moving on — they played some more familiar names. Outside hitter Denys Kaliberda (jersey #6) is more of a highlight-reel high-flyer. Erstwhile floor captain Jochen Schöps (jersey #10) is another, and a very strong server, too. You’ll perhaps notice I’m not naming any middles — it’s not a very strong position for the Germans.

Pencil the Germans through to round two, but don’t get married to the notion.

  SOUTH KOREA

Current FIVB world ranking: 19th
2014 World League finish: Joint 19th
2012 Summer Olympics finish: Did not participate
2010 World Championship finish: Did not participate
Best-ever World Championship finish: 4th (1978)

Or ‘Korea’ as they’re known to the FIVB (they do play the sport in North Korea, but they’ve never been in major international play like this). In terms of world rankings, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain in this event. They’ll definitely improve in the next rankings, even if they don’t win a match — it’s only a matter of by how much.

This isn’t really the most happening program right now, evidenced by them missing the last three Olympic tournaments after participating in eight of the first ten editions. It’s been since 1986 that they didn’t qualify for worlds (they qualified in 2002 but withdrew before the event began), but their highest finish over that span is 8th in Greece in 1994. They’re another one of these teams that are often there, but seldom do they make a lot of noise.

Players to watch for: A minor revelation at last year’s World League (I make such frequent reference to it because I was able to pay a lot of attention to it) was outside hitter Park Chul-woo (jersey #13), who should be around for worlds. His counterpart, at OH2, during World League was Jeon Kwang-in (jersey #12). Both are consistent scorers. Choi Min-ho (jersey #11) will anchor the middle.

Given the relative weakness of this pool overall, the Koreans could advance to round 2.

  TUNISIA

Current FIVB world ranking: 14th
2014 World League finish: Joint 27th (last)
2012 Summer Olympics finish: Joint 11th (last)
2010 World Championship finish: Joint 19th (last)
Best-ever World Championship finish: Joint 15th (2006)

I said this above about the Germans, but boy is it even more apropos for this team — the world ranking is a mirage. It’s puffed up on continental championships and appearances at big events like World League and the Olympics as the required CAVB representatives (or one of them). They’ve got buckets of medals at the African championships and more local international events, but effectively nothing in major international play.

Players to watch for: I can really only go off World League scoresheets, as this isn’t a team I really know much about. Floor captain is setter Samir Sellami (jersey #5), a grizzled veteran at age 37. By far the team’s leading scorer in World League was opposite hitter Hichem Kaabi (jersey #15). Middle blocker Ismail Moalla (jersey #11) also racked up a lot of points.

I get the feeling I’m gonna say this about every African team, and at some level that bugs me, but I don’t see the Tunisians advancing.

The SWAG

If Brazil drop a set, I’ll be stunned. No one in this pool is remotely at their level. They skew the curve enough that Pool A is probably still the weakest overall, but there’s some middle-feeders that will get fat off each other in this pool, and really nothing to challenge the three-time defending champs. Look for them to take it a little easy in the early rounds (and even in doing that, I’d be shocked if they dropped even a set). It’s not cocky to do that when you know you’ve got a long tournament run ahead of you, and a team the calibre of Brazil, facing this calibre of opposition at the outset, they definitely do. The teams below them really could finish in almost any order.

1. Brazil
2. Finland
3. Germany
4. Cuba
5. South Korea
6. Tunisia