Qualification Tournament to World League 2011

    I pray that Tunisia thump those midgets from Japan. Obviously the Japanese are not in form after finishing last at the Asian Cup.



    Go Tunisia!!!

    Oh, I didn't know that. Why did they play with the 2nd team ? Perhaps the winner of that tournament will be the Asian challenger for World League 2012 and I don't know why they undervalued that cup.

    Quote from CBA

    Oh, I didn't know that. Why did they play with the 2nd team ? Perhaps the winner of that tournament will be the Asian challenger for World League 2012 and I don't know why they undervalued that cup.


    I think They training for this tournament and I'm sure that if Japan qualify will be have easy group to has after World League 2011 good place between 10-14.

    If Japan somehow manage to qualify for World League 2011 they will go down next season again because they are a crap team and will not be able to finish higher than 15-th place and there will finally be no Asian team in World League in 2012.

    Japan are not week as players or team. They jump really high, they have good receptions and setter, they play quick attacks and with great spirit. No wonder that the last year they took 3 victories in total from Bulgaria and Russia. They deserve respect. In matter of fact, we've always had trouble beating them

    Fully agree with raylight. Japs are quite good team, IMO they are better then China and Korea. They didin't qualify for WL 2010 only because they played with Egypt and Egyptians made tremendous progress under the leadership of Italian coach Giacobbe. :obey: Opposite Shimitzu and spiker Fukuzawa are good players and Japs as raylight said playing very fast volley, with lot of team and fighting spirit. Tunisia is very weak, on last African cham'ship they were pathetic so I don't give them much chances against Japan.


    CBA Japan is much better then China and Korea IMO, so probably one of those 2 teams is going down in next WL. Ofc that will depend in what group they will play :whistle:

    And not only that Japan are the more experienced and class team but they had to hand them the home advantage, because they know what happened in Cairo last season (Egypt - Japan) and they don't want this to happen again.



    Kaziyski - Probably both China and Korea will go down this season from the World League.

    Nagano, Japan, August 17, 2010 - World No. 12 Japan scored an impressive 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-21) victory against world No. 22 Tunisia in the first of two World League 2011 qualifying matches in Nagano on Tuesday.


    The teams started out tentatively, with Japan edging a 4-2 lead. A great spike by Tatsuya Fukuzawa helped Japan improve to 7-4, a lead they didn't relinquish for the remainder of the set. A flurry of unforced errors by Tunisia allowed the host team to extend to a four point lead at 16-12. Ferocious attacking play by Kunihiro Shimizu as well as Fukuzawa, combined with more unforced errors from Tunisia saw Japan go up 5 points at 22-17 near the end of the set. They went on to eventually close it out 25-20 when Tunisia botched an attack at the net.


    Japan was at their very best in the second set, in total command with a 7-point run that included two spectacular blocks at the net and a powerful spike by Fukuzawa, sending them past Tunisia 11-4. They then pushed to an insurmountable 18-6 lead over the visitors, punctuated by a trademark spike from the outside from Shimizu. He then closed out the set 25-13 with yet another big spike down the middle.


    Japan's Shimizu continued his dominance at the net with two more of his signature attacks to push Japan out to an early third set lead at 5-2. But Tunisia finally showed signs of life, scratching back to within one point at 8-7. Unfortunately two wild serves in a row saw them fall behind once again at 12-8. Japan's Gottsu returned a blistering spike from Hichem Kaabi setting up Fukuzawa to capitalize, extending Japan's lead to six at 16-10. Fukuzawa continued his brilliant play with two strong serves that moved Japan up to 20-14. Tunisia showed some spirit in the final stretch as Niaz Sallem made two strong blocks on the powerful Shimizu who had been having his way all day. But the host team proved too much on the day with Japan's leading scorer on the day, Fukuzawa (17 points), ending the match 25-21 with an attack down the middle. Kaabi Hichem led Tunisia with 13 points.


    The second match between the two teams will take place on Wednesday at 09:00 GMT.

    Nagano, Japan, August 18, 2010 - Japan picked up their second victory over Tunisia in the second round of the 2011 FIVB World League qualification tournamentwith another 3-0 win (25-17, 25-16, 25-21) at home in Nagano on Wednesday.


    With the result they now move forward to the second leg of qualifying when they face Korea next week in Nagano while Puerto Rico host China in San Juan, with the victors moving on to next year’s premier annual tournament.


    Picking up from where they left off in game one, which they also won in straight sets, the host team jumped to an early 6-1 lead thanks to serving from Kunihiro Shimizu who hit three aces. Japan extended their lead to 16-9 with strong attacking and a few errant serves by the Tunisians. A great spike by Ahmed Kadhi with a great team effort at the net to block Tatsuya Fukuzawa saw Tunisia claw their way back to within four points at 17-13. But Japan jumped out in front once again following two hits by Shimizu and Fukuzawa. A spike by the diminutive Takaaki Tomimatsu had Japan poised to close out the set, but Tunisia stubbornly fought off two set points. However the side eventually succumbed to the home side.


    The second set began with both teams attacking well. Kadhi had two great spikes for the Tunisians to take the lead but Fukuzawa evened the score at 5-5 with an incredible hit that sailed into the stands off a helpless Tunisian defender. Japan slowly moved out front with a slim lead, punctuated by a furious spike by Yusuke 'Gottsu' Ishijima to make it 13-10 for the host team. Japan found their rhythm late in the set, with solid blocking at the net against an attacking Elyes Karamosli and Kadhi during a five-point run for the host team. Fukuzawa received a soft lob from setter Shun Imamura at the net and buried a spike leading to set point. He then delivered a serve that couldn't be returned by the Tunisian defines as Japan took the set 25-16.


    Japan opened strong in the third with an impressive hit from the Tomimatsu to make it 4-2 in favour of Japan. Tunisia's Karamosli showed great awareness with a clever tip into the open court to bring Tunisia even. Both he and libero Anouer Taouerghi showed some defensive heart with great digs to contain Japan's attack, setting up Niaz Sallem for a spike that found the mark making it 9-9. The score remained tight thoughout the set with Japan gaining a slim edge going up 20-18 on a long serve from Kadhi. Japan would bring the game even following two consecutive errors by the Tunisians, ending the set 25-21, and with that the match.


    Combined with yesterday's win, Japan moves on to the next stage of World League qualifying with these two victories. They will move on to to play Korea next week, again in Nagano. Puerto Rico and China will face each other in San Juan.

    I fancy Japs over Korea. Korea is poor, they showed nothing in WL. Don't know what happened to them, previous years they had decent home ground but this :what: Also Japs will have home ground advantage and that's very important. They are highly motivate,want to return in WL (where they belong IMO), better players and home ground... IMO they will have easy job :whistle:


    Puerto Rico - China is open for me. Both teams can win but if the Chinese are not playing well in the block (at AVC they were without block completely) Puerto Rico passes :wavy:

    Korea are going to win the 3rd set, leading 2-3 points. Is there any way to watch the match live ? I mean not only from FIVB to get the livescore, but watch live video ?