Modena, Italy, October 3, 2014 - While the four teams competing in the second half of Pool F's FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship Italy 2014 this weekend in Modena have been eliminated from Final Round contention, each team is preparing for the matches to close out their 2014 participation on high notes.
Each victory will carry them further into the final World Championship final ranking, which could be beneficial in future tournaments as far as seeding goes.
Netherlands coach Gido Vermeulen: “We are here with a lot of European teams in this championship, so the points for the ranking are very important and we'll play the next matches as two finals," Netherlands coach Gido Vermeulen said.
As for Kazakhstan, their coach Okeksandr Gutor feels his team has success already in the tournament despite an 0-5 record in the second round standings.
“I know that these two games awaiting us won't help to enter the championship final, but we will try as always to play the best, and take every game as an experience for increasing our abilities," Gutor said. "We had an unexpected success in this championship, and I'm already completely satisfied.”
Both Netherlands and Kazakhstan traveled from Verona to Modena on Friday to finish out the World Championship. Netherlands took the first set against world top-ranked Brazil on Thursday before falling in four sets. Kazakhstan reached 22 points in the first two sets of a hard-fought match against Brazil on Wednesday.
As for Turkey and Bulgaria, both experienced mixed results in the first two Pool F matches held in Modena on Tuesday and Wednesday. Turkey lost to the USA in four sets, then rallied from two sets down to upset Russia on Thursday. Bulgaria saved six match points in the third set versus Russia to push the match to a fourth set before losing 3-1. USA then swept Bulgaria on Thursday.
After the first two matches of Pool F, the coaches for Turkey and Bulgaria offered their opinions on favorites heading into the Final Round.
“I have no doubts about Brazil, USA, China and Italy - they are all going to make it to the final six, and the rest is too close to call," said Massimo Barbolini, coach of Turkeky. "Let’s see what Russia does against Serbia on Sunday: I’m really looking forward to that match."
“Brazil and USA will be there, in Milan, and will be the favorite for the final win," said Bulgaria's Vladimir Kuzyutkin. "I’m not sure about Russia after that bad defeat against Turkey. Let’s see what happens in Verona."