21-Nov, start time: 12:35, end time: 13:37 - Attendance: 2,000

BRA	3	25	25	25	-	-	75
TUN	0	17	16	11	-	-	44

Match Description:

Brazilian Machine Rolls On
Brazil made it five wins from five at the men's World Cup of Volleyball when they swept to an expected straight-sets victory over Tunisia at Site B in Hamamatsu.

The South American and World League champions, ranked second on the standings before the game, eased to a 25-17, 25-16, 25-11 win that furthered their chances of qualifying for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and left Tunisia still searching for their first victory at the 2003 World Cup.

Brazil coach Bernardo Rezende opted to rest some of his first-choice players against opponents ranked 11th but the North Africans were still unable to cope with the well-oiled Brazilian machine that has now dropped just two sets in this World Cup.

Brazil adopted a potent mix of power and subtlety in the opening set with Gilberto Godoy Filho and left-hander Andre Nascimento attacking with their bombs from the flanks and Guimaraes Dante avoiding the Tunisian block with a number of telling drop shots.

The power of the Brazilian serve continued to trouble the Tunisian receivers in the second and they were unable to exploit the attacking potential of Noureddine Hfaiedh, Hosni Karamosly and Khaled Belaid as they fell two sets behind.

In the third Brazil were simply unstoppable. Andre Heller put up a wall at the net and libero Sergio Santos produced superb back-court defense as they raced to a 13-2 lead. Tunisia tried to add a modicum of respectability to the final score but were powerless in their efforts.

Comments:

"It was a very good match for Brazil. We used some players who had not played so much, we did not have all our regular starters, and I was very satisfied with their concentration, especially after last night's tough match with Italy. Tunisia have shown in this World Cup that they have made some good progress under their coach Mr. Giacobbe, though perhaps they were not able to show it today."
BERNARDO REZENDE
Head coach, Brazil

"For Brazil it was a very good game. The whole team concentrated very well, we were quite tired after the Italy game. We showed that Brazil have 12 good players, which is important for a tiring competition like this that runs for 16 days."
GILBERTO FILHO
Brazil

"It was catastrophic for us. We tried to make some changes during the game but they actually made our performance worse."
ANTONIO GIACOBBE
Head coach, Tunisia

Official Result:

Match statistics (P-2) - PDF