30-Nov, start time: 12:05, end time: 13:45 - Attendance: 900

VEN	3	31	25	22	25	-	103
EGY	1	29	23	25	21	-	98

Match Description:

Venezuela Finish World Cup on Winning Note
Venezuela ended their World Cup on a winning note when they defeated basement outfit Egypt 3-1 at Site B in Tokyo. The South Americans claimed their fourth victory from 11 games with a 31-29, 25-23, 22-25, 25-21 win that left their North African rivals rooted to the bottom of the standings in 12th place.

Egypt looked far sharper than during yesterday's loss against Tunisia, while Venezuela lacked their usual aggressive attacking edge in the absence of regular captain Ernardo Gomez, unavailable after hurting his left ankle in their defeat to Canada.

Indeed, it was Egypt who looked more settled as they opened a 15-12 with some efficient spiking from Youssef Saleh Fathy and Shehata Nehad Mohamed. Captain Awad Hamdy Elsafy was also in typically powerful form as Egypt moved 21-18 ahead. But Venezuela stand-in captain Thomas Ereu refused to give up and sparked a comeback, the South Americans saving six set points before taking the game on their second set point.

But Venezuela were clearly struggling and allowed Egypt to open a 9-6 lead in the second. They trailed until a block from Fredy Cedeno moved them 18-17 ahead, after which the powerful spiking of Carlos Tejeda and Luis Diaz enabled them to see out the set.
In a scrappy third, Venezuela were still way below par as they allowed a 16-13 lead turn into a 17-20 deficit, eventually losing the set to a block and spike from Awad Eslam Mohamed.

While Egypt continued to fight, Venezuela's defense and service fell apart at the start of the fourth, allowing Egypt to come back from 4-5 down to lead 15-12. But gradually the superior power and athleticism of Venezuela shone through as they claimed the match.

Comments:

CAMBERO, Miguel (VEN Head Coach)
" We had two difficulties today. The first was that we had to play against Egypt, who have developed their performance a lot recently and become an internationally high-leveled team. The second difficulty was the absence of our captain number 11 Gomez, due to his sprained-ankle. But in the last set, we played with more mental stability. As the Egyptian head coach said, in an international match it is important to get points one by one, and we could do it in the last set."

EREU, Thomas (VEN Captain)
" I have an impression that the Egyptian team has improved a lot during the past several years. It was an honor for us to play against a team that has improved on the international level."

VESELIN, Vukovic (EGY Head Coach)
" We played without two members due to their injury. We lost control of the game after 20 points in the first, second and fourth sets. I think it is very important to earn one point at a time in international matches."

AWAD, Hamdy Elsafy (EGY Captain)
" I think we played a good match. Venezuela also played well without their captain. We made some mistakes in the first, second and fourth sets. It might have become five-set match but we lost by 1-3.
I think it's because of our control of mental stability."

Official Result:

Match statistics (P-2) - PDF