Two teams with different goals will meet in Madrid on the fourth weekend of Intercontinental Round action in the FIVB 2008 World League. Spain and USA collide in Telefonica Arena Sports Hall in the Spanish capital in two games which may turn out to be pivotal in the final outcome of Pool C.
The Spanish squad receives the U.S. after securing a 1-1 record last weekend against Bulgaria. Although the Spaniards seemed to recover some of their shine in the first match that led them to the European Championship, the tie-break defeat suffered in the second match moved them close to elimination from the Final Round.
"Frankly speaking, we don't have a lot of options to qualify for Final Round," said Spanish captain Miguel Angel Falasca. "We would need to win all the matches we have left, and wait for USA and Bulgaria to lose some or most of their matches, and this is very difficult." Spain will meet the leader of Pool C knowing that a defeat in one of the two matches (Friday, 20:30 and Sunday, 12:30) will mean good-bye to the Final Round. "We'll see what happens," said a more optimistic Jose Luis Molto, who fears the powerful performance of USA. "It will depend on the American players travelling to Spain this weekend, but nonetheless, USA is a very strong team, and they are showing this strength throughout all the competition," said the middle blocker. USA leads Pool C with a record of 5 wins and only 1 defeat. The team trained by Hugh McCutcheon expects to keep their momentum going against the Spaniards and continue their run of victories after last weekend's successive 3-1 wins against Finland in order to book their berth in the Final Round. On the other hand, Spain is fighting to recover their team spirit. Wing receiver Luis Pedro Suela, absent last weekend with a minor ankle injury, will be the main newcomer in the Spanish line up to face the NORCECA champions.
The last clash between the teams happened in the 2007 FIVB World Cup 2007, with Spain winning 3-1.
I think Spain will use the home advantage and will beat. My pick is for the Spaniards.
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