Brazil vs Japan: Our Prediction: Brazil 3-1 Japan (Good luck to both teams!)
Date: November 13th, 2010
Time: 1:00AM US PST.
Live Link: www.Fromsport.com
Why Brazil? They might have started slow in this tournament (almost lost to Czech 3-2) but since demolishing the Italians in Round 1 (lowest set score 25-7) and beating the Americans a few days ago (3-1), the Olympic Champs have a tremendous amount of confidence coming into the Final Round. Sheilla is in great form and she’s the best hitter out there right now. She’s playing smarter than ever before. Her teammate, Natalia, is learning to handle the pressure and she’s only 21. The beautiful Jacqueline is more confident with her hitting after being the top scorer against the USA with 18 pts.
The major player for Brazil’s undefeated record is the setter, Fabiola. Unlike Glass (USA), she distributes her sets to all of her hitters and she involves her middles more than anyone. Fabiola knows how to use all her guns. Take note, this is Fabiola’s second major tournament since the 2010 Grand Prix.
Coach Guimaraes has done an amazing job guiding his team to get to where they are now and to where they want to be…World Champions.
Key Player/s: Sheilla, Natalia, Fabiana & Fabiola
Strength/s: Efficient attack variations & team chemistry.
Weakness/es: Brazil might need to work on their blocking since Japan runs quicker offense. We hope the young Natalia can handle the pressure.
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Why not Japan? Takeshita only has one effective option to score points and that is the amazing Saori. If Brazil can break Soari’s game the way they did to Logan Tom, then Brazil has the inconsistent Ebata and Ai to worry about. Physically, Brazil has the edge over the the host. We just hope the coach will use the double substitution because when Takeshita is in front then we’re pretty sure Brazil will capitalize her non-blocking presence.
We love Saori and we admire her energy and positive attitude on the court. She connects well with Takeshita and she’s a very smart hitter. She’s like the Asian Logan Tom who knows how to use the blockers and she varies her attacks. We just hope Saori can handle the pressure. This is her team’s first Final 4 appearance in 24+ years. The 20,000+ Japanese fans can also put pressure on Saori and team.
Sano, the libero, has a lot of digging to do and we expect her to put a good show against Brazil. She loves digging the spikes of Jacqueline. We hope she can do the same to the other Brazilian hitters.
If Japan plays the way they did against Brazil during the Final Round of the 2010 Grand Prix winning it in 5, then we predict this match to run for 2 hours as well. (See Video Below)
Key Player/s: Saori, Takeshita & Sano
Strength/s: Defense, Faster offense than Brazil
Weakness/es: Blocking and Japan is pretty much relying on Saori to do the scoring while Brazil has 5 strong hitters.
If Brazil plays the way we expect them to play against Japan and thier 20,000+ supporters then we will see this from Coach Guimaraes:
(images from www.fivb.org)
WATCH: Brazil vs Japan 2010 Grand Prix Final Round. Bra 2-3 Jpn.
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