VolleyMob

Men’s Volleyball World Championships: How Much Did Poland Win?

With Poland winning the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship on Sunday, September 30th in Turin. One of the questions that volleyball fans are asking is how much money did Poland win for winning the World Championship? Unlike formerly in the annual World League, in which teams would be given a big paper board saying how much the team had won, the FIVB does not generally promote the prize money for the World Championships out to the public.

France’s win in the 2017 World League Finals for $1 million. Courtesy of FIVB

However with the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in Poland, they did provide data on the prize money to be awarded. The winners, Poland received US $200,000, while Brazil brought home US $125,000 for second and Germany took home US $75,000 for third place. The 2014 MVP Marius Wlazly of Poland received US $30,000, while the other best players (7 positions) each took home US $10,000 each. So the tournament awarded US $500,000 total in prize money, $400,000 to teams and $100,000 to players.

According to an article on the money.pl website, posted on Monday, October 1st, the prize money awarded the championship team was $200,000, the same as 2014. The money for second and third places also remained the same. In the article it mentioned that the US $200,000 is to be split between the players and coaching staff. Also, the prize money for the individual player awards for the MVP, best outside hitters, best setter, best middle blockers, best opposite and best libero were the same as they were in 2014 (see the award-winners here).

  • Prize Money for the Final Standing
Champions – $200,000
Runners-up – $125,000
3rd place – $75,000
  • Prize Money for the Awards
Most Valuable Player – $30,000
Best Setter – $10,000
Best Outside Spiker – $10,000 (2 players)
Best Middle Blocker – $10,000 (2 players)
Best Opposite Spiker – $10,000
Best Libero – $10,000

The players on the Polish team will also receive a monetary award from the Polish Ministry of Sport and Tourism of 27,000 Polish Zloty (US $7,307.20, per Oanda). Head coach Vital Heynen will also receive 13,000 Polish Zloty (US $3,518.28). His assistant coaches will also receive an amount as well, but not specified in the money.pl article.

With the halfway point of the first round 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship, we here at Volleymob wanted to make some quick adjustments to see where our predictions will go for the remaining two or three matches for each of the teams.

If you look back at our predictions from September 26th just before the tournament started, the teams that are leading their pools are pretty much correct. However, Serbia’s 3-0 sweep of Brazil is the major mistake that we had of the big teams. We had thought that the Brazilians would win a close five-set match, which would give them the best record in Pool D at the end of the five matches. Now, Serbia is projected to finish in first in Pool D and Brazil second. This difference will have consequences in the second round. Additionally, with Japan taking the Netherlands to five sets, which we did not predict (although we got the result right), that additional point for Japan right now would put them ahead of Brazil by 1 point entering the second round. With only the top three teams advancing from Pool E, which will have the Netherlands, Serbia, Brazil and Japan, an extra point from the first round can put you in the third round. Japan is favored in all of their remaining first round matches, but I have a feeling that Germany will give the Japanese a scare, maybe going five sets, which would take Japan’s point advantage away.

Moving onto other shocking results so far, Thailand’s upset of South Korea has put the Koreans on the ropes and they followed up their opening day loss with a 3-1 loss to Azerbaijan. A loss to the USA on Tuesday would nearly eliminate the South Koreans with two matches to play. Azerbaijan has used Polina Rahimova to great effect, which has given them a 30% jump in advancing to the second round from the beginning of the tournament. Kenya’s 3-0 win over Kazakhstan was impressive as it was the Kenyan’s first win in the World Championships ever. Lastly is Mexico’s win over Argentina in straight sets. The Mexico win shows how far the Argentine women had fallen and that maybe dropping the captain before the tournament was a bad idea. If Argentina beats Cameroon on the final day of pool play in Pool A, Mexico could possibly make the second round.

Our data feels that Netherlands will win Pool A, China in Pool B, the USA in Pool C and Serbia in Pool D in the first round. Other teams that are expected to qualify for the second round are Japan, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Bulgaria, Russia, Thailand, Brazil, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. That leaves two spots left, one in Pool A, mentioned above and then one in Pool C, between Azerbaijan and South Korea. A win by Azerbaijan would all but put them in the second round, and I expect that they will have no problem with Trinidad & Tobago.

At the halfway point (12 teams with 2 matches remaining and the other 12 teams with 3 matches remaining) in the first round for the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Japan, some teams are able to clinch their spot in the second round as of Tuesday’s matches. While others in Pools A and D, while be able to clinch their positions on Wednesday, due to their rest day being on Tuesday, as opposed to Pools B & C who had their rest day on Monday.

Here are the scenarios for matches on October 2nd by pool:

Pool B

Italy (2-0, 6 points)

  • WIN vs. Cuba
  • AND Canada LOSS vs. China
  • Italy will reach 3 wins, while Cuba and Canada would have 0 wins with two matches to play

China (2-0, 6 points)

  • WIN vs. Canada
  • AND Cuba LOSS vs. Italy
  • China will reach 3 wins, while Cuba and Canada would have 0 wins with two matches to play

The winner of the Turkey vs. Bulgaria match would all but guarantee their place in the second round if both Cuba and Canada lose on Tuesday, as the winner would be at 2 wins, while Cuba and Canada would be at 0 wins with two matches to play.

Pool C

USA (2-0, 6 points)

  • WIN vs. South Korea
  • AND Trinidad & Tobago LOSS vs. Thailand
  • USA will reach 3 wins, while South Korea and Trinidad & Tobago would have 0 wins with two matches to play

Russia (2-0, 5 points)

  • WIN vs. Azerbaijan
  • AND South Korea LOSS vs. USA
  • AND Trinidad & Tobago LOSS vs. Thailand
  • Russia will reach 3 wins, while South Korea and Trinidad & Tobago would have 0 wins with two matches to play

If Azerbaijan beat Russia, the USA beat South Korea and Thailand beat Trinidad & Tobago. Azerbaijan and Thailand would all but guarantee their spots in the second round with 2 wins and 6 points (maximum), whereas South Korea and Trinidad & Tobago would have 0 wins with two matches to play. Russia would be close to being in at 2 wins and 5 points. However, South Korea does have 1 point, which means that 2 wins would allow them to jump over a 2 win team with 6 points.

After the final matches of the day in each of the host cities for the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship, the Japanese Volleyball Association put out an announcement on their website in Japanese.

Courtesy Japanese Volleyball Association

The statement talked about the matches to be played on Sunday, September 30th.

“As Typhoon 24 (Trami) is approaching Japan, all matches at present at each host site are expected to go on as scheduled. However for the matches in Kobe and Hamamatsu, tickets will be refunded if you cannot visit due to trains being stopped, etc. on account of the Typhoon. (author emphasis in bold). Please keep your purchased tickets because they are required in order to receive your refund. However, the methods of refund have not be decided at this time, and the Japanese Volleyball Association will announce that when it is decided. Matches played in Yokohama and Sapporo will not be refunded.

A rapid weather change is expected on the evening of the 30th at the end of the matches. Please be aware of weather and disaster information when coming to the matches. We appreciate your understanding and thank you for your continued patronage.”
Author’s translation (with some help from translate.google.com)

Japan’s Metrological Agency warning page as of 11:41 AM JST on Sunday, September 30th (7:41 PM PDT on Saturday, September 29th) had the following warnings and advisories. Kobe is under a warning, while Hamamatsu is under an advisory.

From the NHK picture the winds will likely come late on Sunday night.

With the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Japan starting on Saturday afternoon (Friday night on the West Coast of the USA and Canada), we at Volleymob wanted to take the Brahm Ranking system and see if the predictions that he had done for the men’s tournament would also work on the women’s tournament. We are using the Volleymob/Brahm women’s national team rankings at the end of the August 2018.

The picture that you see above is a prediction for each of the pool in the first round of the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship. Here is how the calculation for each match and pool was created.

  • Take the point value for each team from the ranking for their match schedule
  • Put it into the following formula (team point value)2/((team 1 point value)2+(team 2 point value)2)
  • The resulting percentage is then run in a Monte Carlo simulation 1,000 times
  • That result gives us the final winning percentage value
  • Final winning percentage value is broken down as follows
    • >80%, 3-0 set score, 3 points
    • 60%-80%, 3-1 set score, 3 points
    • 50%-60%, 3-2 set score, 2 points
    • 40%-50%, 2-3 set score, 1 point
    • 20%-40%, 1-3 set score, 0 points
    • <20%, 0-3 set score, 0 points
  • The 2nd Round Advancing Percentage is based on the total of your 5 first round matches divided by 500% (winning all five matches) and then multiplying by (4/3, as four teams make the second round from each pool)
  • If a team is over 100%, they have been lowered to 99.9% and their additional points have been added to the remaining teams to reach 400% (100% x 4 teams) across all six teams

With that said, we shall look at each pool to determine which teams will advance and which matches may change these predicted results.

In Pool A, the Netherlands are favored to win every match in the first round, including over the hosts Japan. I expect them to win the pool with a perfect 5-0 record and 15 points. The only match Japan is not favored in is against the Netherlands but they should finish second at 4-1 and 12 points. They may face difficulty in their final match of the first round against Germany. Germany is an overwhelming favorite against the three weakest teams in the pool of Argentina, Cameroon and Mexico and will finish in third place at 3-2 with 9 points. Argentina from my projections will take the fourth spot and be the last team in Pool A to advance to the second round at 2-3 with 6 points. Cameroon in my mind would be the only team to possibly overtake Argentina as they were close to defeating Argentina in 5 sets at the 2016 Rio Olympics inpool play. Mexico is just overmatched in this pool.

Over to Pool B, aka the “Pool of Death”. With China, Italy and Turkey being placed together in this pool the chances that one of the three will be going home after the second round is very high as they will face the USA and Russia in the second round. It would be crazy if all three teams finished at 4-1 in the first round. I can see it happening, but on my projections, it won’t. China is favored to win in all of their matches and a 5 set win over Italy in their final match of the first round takes them to 5-0, but 14 points. Italy should easily take care of Bulgaria, Cuba and Canada, and have some difficulty with Turkey to finish second at 4-1 on 13 points. Turkey could pull a surprise over Italy and China, but Turkey also should easily defeat Bulgaria, Cuba and Canada. They will be third at 3-2 with 9 points. Turkey being the odd one out at the end of the second round (right now). Bulgaria should dominate Cuba and Canada to take the final spot in the second round.

In Pool C, the USA and Russia will battle for first place in the final match of the pool. However the USA should win the match and finish in first place with a perfect 5-0 record and 15 points. Russia would be second at 4-1 with 12 points. South Korea should take care of the others in the pool Thailand, Azerbaijan and Trinidad and Tobago to finish third at 3-2 with 9 points. The projections show Thailand finishing in fourth at 2-3 with 6 points. However, if Azerbaijan uses the high scoring sensation of Polina Rahimova, it could defeat Thailand and take the fourth spot. Trinidad and Tobago are playing in the World Championships for the first time and will have difficulty with much tougher competition.

Finishing with Pool D, Brazil and Serbia are both >86% favorites in each of their matches, except in the head-to-head between the two teams. Brazil is a slight favorite in the match against Serbia, which will allow them to win the pool at a perfect 5-0 with 14 points. Serbia will be second at 4-1 with 13 points. Of the remaining four teams, the Dominican Republic are favored in their other three matches and should finish in third at 3-2 with 8 points. Puerto Rico is favored over Kazakhstan and Kenya and should finish in fourth at 2-3 with 7 points. Kazakhstan and Kenya will have more of a chance to win against Puerto Rico than the Dominican Republic, but I don’t think that they will.

Three weeks ago, we at volleymob had said that the Japanese women’s national team had released their final roster for the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship. Now the presentation was for Tokyo Broadcasting System to begin their advertising campaign for the tournament. On Tuesday, September 25th the Japanese federation along with their head coach Kumi Nakada announced their final roster with a couple of surprises.

Here is the position breakdown:

Just as I started to write this article, I noticed that Yurie Nabeya (Denso Airybees) had been left off the team. Nabeya had been at the previous presentation at the beginning of the month. I can only speculate as to why she was left off the team. In my mind Nabeya is a spark plug off the bench, and I do not see an immediate replacement for her spirit. Mami Uchiseto, who had played in Italy’s Serie B this past season for Hermaea Olbia has replaced her on the final 14 roster. Additionally in the presentation earlier in the month, setters Miya Sato and Kanami Tashiro were on the stage as well. I felt that Tashiro would be dropped as the final player left off. I was wrong, Sato was dropped as Japan will use Tominaga and Tashiro as the setters. This has to be a hard fall for Sato in the last year. From being a starter on the national team in 2017 to having her club team (Hitachi Rivale) finish last in 2017-2018, and then being dropped from the national team at the last possible moment before the World Championship which is being played at home. Even worse for Sato is that she was part of the Mizuno “Red for Japan” campaign, and even on the JVA’s homepage at this very second for their special page on the Women’s World Championship.

Courtesy Japan Volleyball Association, taken September 25, 2018 Miya Sato #12

One interesting thing that we were able to see for the first time at the press conference was that Japan has added a white uniform to their uniform choices. Early in the summer we had written about the purple, blue and red design, by Mizuno. I am guessing that Mizuno had to create a light colored uniform as each team is required by FIVB Event Regulation 4.9.3

For FIVB and World Competitions, each team shall have available
three (3) sets of playing uniforms, each one of a different colour. One of
them must have a jersey which is 75% white and the two (2) other sets
must be of different dark colors.

Courtesy Japanese Volleyball Association and Tokyo Broadcasting System

This may be the first time at a World Championships that a team has four different color choices for the tournament. I am guessing that the libero will be wearing the white only when the red uniforms are worn. I am still a fan of the purple look as they would be the only team wearing purple in the tournament. However, I have a feeling that the Japanese women will wear red due to Mizuno’s campaign “Red for Japan.”

With the second round complete, as I look back on my predictions at the beginning of the second round, I correctly picked five out of the six teams that made the third round. The only team I missed was Serbia as I had picked France over them as the best second place team. If France had beat Serbia in the first match of the second round, they would have qualified for the third round.

After the two pools for the Third Round of the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championships were drawn on Monday morning, I started to calculate the win probabilities for each of the two pools. I then started to put together a table of the teams if they faced in the semifinals and then the potential of which team they would face in the final. First let us show you ranking of the remaining teams plus France who are number 1.

The USA, Brazil and Russia, who were drawn together in Pool I are ranked second, third and fourth respectively. While Italy, Poland and Serbia were drawn into Pool J, are also ranked fifth, sixth and seventh respectively. Even when looking that the numbers, they are very close in both pools, as you see in the big picture at the top of the page. With the teams being so close, I have predicted that each of the matches will go five sets in the third round. I have the USA and Brazil in the top two spots in Pool I, while Italy and Poland will be the top two in Pool J. Still right now as you look at the probability odds, each team to make the third round is 60% or higher. After the first matches on Wednesday, those numbers would change greatly if there was a 3-0 sweep by one team.

Moving onto the predictions of the semifinals and finals. The winner of Pool I will face the second place team of Pool J in one semifinal, while the winner of Pool J will face the second place team of Pool I. The winners of those two matches will face off in the Final, whereas the losers will play for 3rd place. Below is a head-to-head probability based on 1,000 simulations for each of the six teams. As you can see, when the teams of Pool I play Pool J, they are at an advantage in the match. In the semifinals, any of the Pool I teams will be favored. So when you look at the odds of making the final, Pool I alone controls 116.9% of the 200% (2 teams each at 100%, to reach the final, shown at the top of the page) odds to make the final. In my prediction in one semifinal the USA will face Poland and win, and in the other semifinal Brazil will face Italy and win. So, the USA vs. Brazil in the Final, and Poland vs. Italy in the third place match.

Courtesy Jeremy Brahm

However, when looking at the championship chances at the far right at the top of the page. The USA at 18.9% is barely ahead of Brazil at 18.8%. Russia follows in third at 17.3%. Poland is fourth at 15.3%, closely followed by Italy at 15.2% and rounding out the contenders is Serbia at 14.5%. So there you have it, USA to win the title on Sunday.

With that said, these matches are still to be played from Wednesday to Sunday. Each match should be exciting and close, with the champion saying on Sunday night, “I had to defeat some good teams in the last four matches to take the title.”

With the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship starting tomorrow in Japan, lets take a look at who a European online betting company thinks will win the tournament and also the pools.

First we will look at the odds for winning the tournament. As always, these odds are for entertainment purposes only, and every individual is responsible for adhering to their local laws.

Explanation of odds: 3.80 to 1 means that a bet of $1 will earn the bettor their original dollar back, plus an additional $3.80. Odds of $0.25 to 1 means that a bet of $1 will earn the bettor their original dollar back, plus 25 cents of ‘profit.’

Data courtesy of Bwin.com

According to Bwin.com, they feel that the Serbian and American women have the best chances of winning the tournament with 3.00 to 1 odds. I am guessing that Bwin.com feels that the American’s win in the Volleyball Nations League gives them an advantage over the competition. The Serbian women by finishing the preliminary round of the Volleyball Nations Leagues in second place is probably the reasoning for them being tied with the USA. In third place are China at 3.50 to 1. This is mainly due to China’s performance at the Olympics and the great Zhu Ting. Brazil in fourth rounds out the teams with odds in single digits at 4.50 to 1. The hosts Japan are given long odds of winning the tournament at 40:1. Bwin.com is thinking that even having the home crowd behind them in all of their matches will help the Japanese to some degree, but there may be too many strong teams that they will have to face just to even make the third round.

The Netherlands have the best chance of winning the tournament out of Pool A at 16.00 to 1. Those are very high odds and may be attractive to some bettors. The Netherlands are missing Robin de Kruijf in the middle and that may be enough to keep the Oranje from winning.

Do not forget that in the second round, the top 3 teams advance to the third round. So if Japan lose once in the first round, it may be too much for them to make up in the second round.

For those people who are interested in really long shots look at Cameroon, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago are all at 2,000 to 1 to win the tournament.

Now moving on to the odds for winning each pool.

Data courtesy of Bwin.com

Netherlands is a prohibitive favorite to win Pool A, where you would only win 25 cents on a $1 bet. Japan is a second at 3.80 to 1. Germany is third at 11.00 before a significant drop to Argentina, Mexico and Cameroon.

In Pool B, China are the heavy favorites at 0.45 to 1. Italy and Turkey at 3.75 and 4.75 to 1 respectively could provide a lucrative upset if they can beat China to win the pool. Bulgaria is expected to be fourth in the pool with 40.00 to 1 odds.

For Pool C, USA is the favorite at 0.28 to 1. Russia is second at 3.20 to 1. These two teams are very far ahead of their opponents. If South Korea with Kim Yeon-Koung or Azerbaijan with Polina Rahimova get on a strong run, you could receive a 20.00 (South Korea) or 25.00 (Azerbaijan) to 1 return on your investment.

As for Pool D, Serbia and Brazil at 0.60 to 1 and 1.20 to 1 respectively are the prohibitive favorites to win the pool.

As part of the run-up to the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Japan, host broadcaster Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) is going all out on their home page for the World Championships. TBS has just released in the last day or two 30 second profiles on foreign stars to be playing in the tournament. The stars with videos are

The amount of information available on the TBS homepage is almost mini encyclopedia of videos alone on modern Japanese volleyball going back to 1998. There are highlight videos from past matches that Japan hosted in 1998, 2006 and 2010. For myself I am very familiar with the 2010 team with Saori Kimura, Yoshie Takeshita, Saori Sakoda and Erika Araki. Additionally each of the female announcers that TBS employs gave a quick profile on which Japanese national team player they like.

TBS has also done more short interviews with each of the players on the Japanese national team. These short interviews give a player by player view of how they would like to help the team perform in the tournament. Furthermore, TBS has created short vignette videos on many of the start players on the Japanese national team. Such as Erika Araki, who is the only mother on the Japanese women’s team or the projected new ace Ai Kurogo.

TBS even has interviewed a number of players daily after their practices at the national training center in Tokyo.

TBS has invested a great deal of time and money to make sure that the tournament performs well in front of a domestic television audience, but also to global audience as well.

(Updated Sunday morning after reviewing Serbia’s & Netherlands’s sets ratios)

With the matches on Saturday, September 22nd of the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in Italy and Bulgaria, Brazil, Italy, Serbia and the USA clinched their berths in the third round.

Going into the final day of play in the second round, 7 teams still have a chance at qualifying for the second round. We will now look at each pool and also which teams have the chance at the two second place berths in the third round.

Pool E

Italy has won the pool and has nothing to play for on Sunday

Russia (5-2, 15 points)

Best 2nd Place Berth

  • WIN vs. Finland
  • OR LOSE IN 5 vs. Finland AND
    • Poland LOSS IN 3 OR 4 SETS vs. Serbia
    • AND Belgium WIN IN 5 SETS
    • AND Netherlands LOSS vs. Italy
  • May need a France LOSS as well

Netherlands

Best 2nd Place Berth

  • WIN vs. Italy (preferably in 3 or 4 SETS)
  • AND Poland LOSS IN 3 OR 4 SETS vs. Serbia
  • OR Russia LOSS vs. Finland IN 3 OR 4 SETS
  • IF Russia WIN, Netherlands are eliminated as they cannot beat Russia on sets ratio if tied on wins and points, Russia 2.100 (worst) and Netherlands 1.500 (best)

Finland has been eliminated

Pool F

Brazil has won the pool and has nothing to play for on Sunday

Belgium

Best 2nd Place Berth

  • 1st Way
    • WIN vs. Brazil in 3 SETS
    • AND Poland LOSS vs. Serbia in 3 SETS
    • AND Russia LOSS vs. Finland in 3 OR 4 SETS
    • AND Netherlands LOSS vs. Italy in 3 OR 4 SETS
    • AND France LOSS vs. Argentina IN 3 OR 4 SETS
    • Belgium would have 5 wins, 16 points, Poland tied on wins and points, but Belgium would take sets ratio tiebreaker 1.545 to 1.500
    • Russia also tied on wins but 15 points and Netherlands tied on wins but 14 points
  • 2nd Way
    • WIN vs. Brazil in 3 SETS
    • AND Poland WINS vs. Serbia
    • AND Russia LOSS vs. Finland in 3 OR 4 SETS
    • AND Netherlands LOSS vs. Italy in 3 OR 4 SETS
    • AND France LOSS vs. Argentina in 3 OR 4 SETS
    • Belgium would have 5 wins, 16 points, France tied on wins but 15 points,
    • Russia also tied on wins but 15 points and Netherlands tied on wins but 14 points

Slovenia has been eliminated as it cannot surpass Russia’s sets ratio if tied on win and points.

Australia has been eliminated

Pool G

USA has won the pool and has nothing to play for on Sunday.

Bulgaria

  • WIN vs. Canada IN 3 OR 4 SETS
  • AND Russia LOSS vs. Finland IN 3 or 4 SETS (if Bulgaria win in 4, then Russia must lose in 3)
  • AND Netherlands LOSS vs. Italy
  • AND France LOSS vs. Argentina
  • AND Poland LOSS vs. Serbia
  • AND Belgium LOSS vs. Brazil
  • Bulgaria would be tied with Russia on 5 wins and 15 points, Bulgaria would have a better sets ratio, Netherlands also tied on wins but at 14 points

Iran has been eliminated as it cannot surpass Russia’s sets ratio if tied on win and points.

Canada has been eliminated as it cannot surpass Russia’s points if tied on wins

Pool H

Serbia (6-1, 17 points) has clinched at least one of the two best second place berths

1st Place in the Pool

  • WIN vs. Poland

Best 2nd Place Berth

  • LOSS vs. Poland

Poland

1st Place in the Pool

  • WIN vs. Serbia
  • If Poland WIN IN 5 SETS, Poland and Serbia are tied on 6 wins and 18 points, Poland would take sets ratio 1.909 to Serbia’s 1.833

Best 2nd Place Berth

  • 1st Way
    • WIN 2 SETS vs. Serbia
    • AND France WIN vs. Argentina in 5 SETS
    • AND Netherlands LOSS vs. Italy
    • Netherlands cannot match on points to Poland’s 17 and France cannot surpass Poland’s sets ratio if tied on 5 wins and 17 points, Poland 1.667 to France’s 1.615
  • 2nd Way
    • WIN 2 SETS vs. Serbia
    • AND France WIN vs. Argentina in 5 SETS
    • AND Russia LOSS vs. Finland
    • Russia cannot match on points to Poland’s 17 and France cannot surpass Poland’s sets ratio if tied on 5 wins and 17 points, Poland 1.667 to France’s 1.615
  • 3rd Way
    • France LOSS vs. Argentina
    • AND Netherlands LOSS vs. Italy
    • AND Belgium WIN vs. Brazil in 4 SETS OR LOSS vs. Brazil
    • Teams cannot match Poland on 5 wins and 16 points
  • 4th Way
    • France LOSS vs. Argentina
    • AND Russia LOSS vs. Finland
    • AND Belgium WIN vs. Brazil in 4 SETS OR LOSS vs. Brazil
    • Teams cannot match Poland on 5 wins and 16 points

France

Best 2nd Place Berth

  • 1st Way
    • WIN vs. Argentina IN 3 OR 4 SETS
    • AND Netherlands LOSS vs. Italy
    • Netherlands could not match France’s points 18 if tied on 5 wins
  • 2nd Way
    • WIN vs. Argentina IN 3 OR 4 SETS
    • AND Russia LOSS vs. Finland
    • Russia could not match France’s points 18 if tied on 5 wins

Argentina has been eliminated

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