Unbeaten Brazil heads for semi-finals with Russia, Italy and Serbia and Montenegro

The strong favourites to win the title will face Serbia and Montenegro in the first semi-final. Defending champions Italy will play Russia in the second semi-final after "Le Azzurre" completed their unbeaten record for the second round with a straight-sets victory over host nation Japan. The day's surprise result came from a resilient Dutch side that upset China by coming from two sets down to jump from 6th place to 3rd in the Osaka Pool F.

Pool E
Cuba rounded off Pool E with a perfect second round record after labouring to a 25-18, 28-26, 25-23 victory against Poland. First round losses to Serbia and Montenegro and Italy, however, proved too costly for Felipe Calderon's side’s semi-final chances, but the win over Poland assured their place among the top eight teams in Osaka next week. Poland, on the other hand, head home knowing their loss to Turkey the previous day had effectively ended their chances of survival.

Serbia and Montenegro bounced back from their 3-2 defeat by Japan the previous evening to beat Chinese Taipei 25-22, 24-26, 19-25, 25-15, 15-13 to record a sixth win in Pool E and book one of two qualifying places. Captain Vesna Citakovic summed up: "We could see from the very beginning that we weren't relaxed and were making mistakes that we don't usually make. It was especially difficult for us from a psychological point of view, but in the end everything turned out as it should. We think we deserve to be going to the semi-finals. We have waited a long time to come to the World Championships, and I never even dreamed of playing in the semi-finals."

Already-eliminated Korea turned on the style as they annihilated Turkey to salvage some pride. The young Koreans turned in a dazzling display of attacking volleyball to leave the Turks shell-shocked 25-14, 25-13, 25-22. Chinese Taipei's agonising defeat earlier in the afternoon had given the Turks hope of securing fifth place in the group. But Korea, with nothing left to play for, offered a glimpse of their future as they blew their European rivals' ambitions out of the water.

Defending world champions Italy booked their place in the semi-finals with a straight-sets victory over Japan in the last match of Pool E. "Le Azzurre" showed all their quality and experience to hold off Japan 25-17, 28-26, 25-23 and qualify for the final four.

Pool F
Brazil triumphed in the matchup between the only two unbeaten teams in the tournament when they overcame Russia 3-1 in a tense battle in Osaka. The fired-up Brazilians rallied to defeat the Russians 27-29, 25-14, 27-25, 25-22 and take the top spot in the pool. Russia were playing without Shashkova, whose fitness for the semi-final remains in doubt after she sustained an injury to an adductor muscle. Brazil's coach Jose Roberto Guimaraes insisted that the absence of this key player made Russia a different team. "We play better than usual when we face Russia," he said. "They have special skills that other countries don't have. They play like a men's team with a lot of height. The ball comes at you differently and the timing for blocking is different." With both teams already qualified for the semi-finals before today's match, Giovanni Caprara had clearly enjoyed the head-to-head encounter. "If we don't get to play Brazil again this year, it will be disappointing," he said, "because we learn so much when we play against them. I think they are the best team in the world at this moment."

The United States hauled themselves back from the brink of defeat to score an incredible 3-2 victory over Germany. The Americans saved three straight match points to beat the Germans 25-27, 25-23, 19-25, 26-24, 15-11 and improve their win-loss record to 3-4. For Germany, it was another heartbreak after they fell to the Netherlands in similar fashion on Wednesday, having squandered a big fifth-set lead.

The Netherlands used five sets once again as they came from two sets down to beat China 3-2 in their final Pool F match. The Dutch rallied to win 21-25, 17-25, 25-23, 25-22, 15-12 and move from sixth to third in the pool. Coach Avital Seelinger was too happy with the win against China to even think about his next opponent: "We had nothing to lose and I'm proud of the team because they fought like lions and to beat the Olympic champions is a great achievement. It's not every day you beat China so I think we can afford to spend some time enjoying that."

Azerbaijan ended their Pool F programme on a high with a 3-0 victory over Puerto Rico on Sunday in a match that had no bearing on the top six qualifiers. The east Europeans triumphed 25-21, 25-18, 25-18 for their second victory of the group following their five-setter against the United States to finish seventh out of eight teams in the Osaka second round.

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