The volleyball teams of Bulgaria and the US are heading to Tokyo for the World Cup’s final phase perfectly tied for the precious third place in the standings. The team finishing in this position will gain qualification for the next year’s Olympic Games in Beijing. The big guns of Russia and Brazil are certain to take the other two spots.

The last three days of the 12-team competition in Japan promise to be a dramatic showdown. On November 30, Bulgaria against top-of-the-table Russia is the only derby among all six games in the daily schedule. December 1 will be the icing on the cake, a battle for first place between Brazil, in second place with only one loss in the competition, and Russia who have won all eight of their games so far, dropping just a single set along the way. Then the next day the US will face Russia.

There is every chance of Bulgaria and the US finishing with an equal number of wins and losses. In that case the points difference (points ratio) will be applied to establish the final ranking. Before the final three days both teams are level on 6 wins and 2 losses with a points ratio of 1.122. In fact Bulgaria is third in the table by the slimmest of margins - 0.0000332. In the eight matches so far Martin Stoev’s team scored 706 points in total with 629 against, which gives a ratio of 1.1224165. The US’s difference is 697:621, a ratio of 1.1223833.

Bulgaria started the World Cup with three wins but then lost two in a row against the US (2 sets to 3) and Brazil (0:3). The last three rounds turned into a parallel race between the third-place contenders with both beating Korea, Tunisia and Australia in search of points difference. In the end Martin Stoev’s team lost its previous stronger ratio advantage.

On Tuesday NORCECA champions United States cruised past Asian champions Australia 3:0 (25:17, 25:12, 25:19) and coach Hugh McCutcheon said: “We were pretty good in all aspects of the game. One of our goals coming into this round was stability and we have achieved that. The defence and block worked well together and we were serving well. We just need to get ready for the Japan match now in Tokyo and we’re taking it one match at a time. I hope we get some good training in.”

Right after that Bulgaria had to work hard to overcome African vice-champions Tunisia in four sets 3:1 (26:24, 22:25, 25:15, 25:17). Already aware of how the ratio had changed, coach Martin Stoev said: “The match could be separated into two parts: the first two sets and last two sets. We wanted to win with a big points difference but it was obvious after tough match there is still a lot of pressure on my players. I hope in the two rest days we can recover. In Tokyo, for us and the United States, the tournament starts again.”

Stoev may expect much more pressure in Tokyo, because in their first match the US could cruise past Japan in straight sets to improve its ratio while Bulgaria faces Russia and, no matter whether they win or lose, will not gain a good points difference. If Stoev’s players lose, they must hope Russia give it 100-percent to beat the US on the final day.

Note
The final round of the Men’s World Cup 2007 starts on November 30. Three days of competition, 18 matches overall, will take place in Tokyo’s Metropolitan Gymnasium and Komazawa Gymnasium. The event will end on December 2 with the first three teams in the ranking will go to the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008.

Positions after the third rounds: Russia 16 points; Brazil 15; Bulgaria and USA 14; Argentina 13; Puerto Rico and Spain 12; Japan and Australia 11; Korea and Tunisia 9; Egypt 8.