The Pools For The Final 6:

Pool G
France
Germany
Iran

Pool H
Brazil
Poland
Russia

Final 6 Day 2

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Final 6 Day 1

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After 2 weeks, the following teams have qualified for THE FINAL ROUND of the 2014 FIVB Men’s World Championship:

Brazil

Russia

Germany

France

Poland

Iran

Third Round Pools

The Pool E and F winners will be placed in Pool H and G respectively, while the second and third placed teams will be drawn.

If Poland qualify for the Third Round, they will play their matches in Łódź.

The top two teams in each pool will qualify for the Semifinals with the third ranked teams in each pool also playing off for fifth place.

Stay tuned for more details of The Final Round which starts on September 16th.

Final Standing

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th

7th
Canada
United States

9th
Finland
Serbia

11th
Argentina
Cuba

13th
Bulgaria
Italy

15th
Australia
China

17th
Belgium
Mexico
South Korea
Venezuela

21st
Cameroon
Egypt
Puerto Rico
Tunisia

Iranians Jump For Joy!

After finding out USA lost to Argentina, this is how Iranian players celebrated which witnessed by some Polish and French players…

In case you didn’t know, USA had to win in 3 to 4 sets versus Conte and Argentina but the match went to 5 and won by Argentina. Such defeat led to Team USA being eliminated from the tournament and it also paved way for Poland and Iran to advance to the Final Round.

One man’s loss is another man’s gain…

Iran’s Coach Kovak Celebrates!

Conte & Argentina Send Team USA Home

Polish fans cheering for Argentina as Team USA struggled…

Iranian Setter Marouf In Tears

Marouf and his team are making history and he can’t contain his emotions after finding out that Iran is in the Final Round.

Round I Detailed Stats by Jeremy Brahm

Welcome to the 2014 FIVB Men’s World Championship Advanced Statistics for the Phase 1 Matches

These calculations are done the following way:

(Kills + Blocks + Aces) – (Hitting Errors + Service Errors + Setting Errors + Serve Receive Errors + (Team Errors/6))

Then divide by the number of sets played (individual sets are calculated at 48 points per set max (if it goes extra 26+24=50, 50/48 or 1.04. Fifth set is (28/48)=0.58, if extra 16+14=(30/28)*(28/48)=.63)

Team Totals take the above calculations and make slight changes

(Kills + Blocks + Aces) – (Hitting Errors + Service Errors + Setting Errors + Serve Receive Errors + Team Errors)

Divide by the number of sets played and then divide by the number of sets won. If the number of sets won is 0, then multiply by 3 (you would have needed 3 sets to win 1). If you have more errors than positive points, then multiply or divide by the negative number of set wins or 3.

A win in 5 sets is equal to 2.58 sets, otherwise it is 3 sets.

No that that’s over, let’s answer some of the tough questions from the First Phase

Who were the players who helped their teams win the most sets?

1. Simone Buti of Italy, 6.67 set wins
2. Antonin Rouzier of France, 5.45 set wins
3. Thomas Edgar of Australia, 5.12 set wins
4. Emmanuele Birarelli of Italy, 5.10 set wins
5. Dimitriy Muserskiy of Russia, 4.92 set wins

Buti and Birarelli were basically the only players for Italy in positive numbers in their loss to the USA in the final day of the Phase 1. Because the team as a whole was bad, their individual numbers got elevated.

After these two guys, Ivan Zaystev was the best player for Italy with 1.81 set wins before his injury. Italy as a whole only had 7.39 set wins.

Rouzier has been very efficient for France leading to 42.4% of France’s set wins.

Edgar has been one of the few bright lights for Australia with a crazy 71.5% of their set wins. His teammate Aiden Zengel is at 3.17 set wins. Without these two Australia has not performed well.

Dmitriy Muserskiy as the tallest player in the world, proved that he is a force for the Russian team with 34.6% of his team’s wins. Nikolay Pavlov (3.38) is the only other Russian player over 2.00 set wins.

Which players are have lost their teams the most sets?

1. Salvatore Rossini of Italy, -3.75 set wins
2. Teodor Salparov of Bulgaria, -2.46 set wins
3. Seung-Suk Kwak of South Korea, -2.40 set wins
4. Yvan Arthur Kody Bitjaa of Cameroon, -1.80 set wins
5. Keibel Gutierrez Torna of Cuba, -1.76 set wins

Rossini is one of Italy’s two liberos, and got hit badly during the USA loss with -3.33 set wins.

Salparov is also a libero and he has not done his job well.

Kwak is the first outside hitter/all-around on the list. He has 16 serve receive errors which is tied for last and his 14 service errors doesn’t help.

Bitjaa is the second outside hitter on the list. Considering he has only played in 50% of the sets that Cameroon played, this is not a good sign.

Torna only has 7 serve receive errors, which is low for libero. However, he picks up negative points with Cuba team errors (liberos would receive 1/6 of the team errors). And Cuba did have a ton of team errors in some matches.

Which players are scoring the most net positive points per set (over 50% of sets played)?

1. Zhi Yuan of China, 3.63 points
2. Muserskiy, 3.19 points
3. Edgar, 3.13 points
4. Olli-Peska Ojansivu of Finland, 2.77 points
5. Gavin Schmitt of Canada, 2.59 points

Zhi Yuan has been a great player for China. He was #4 in kills in the first round and #2 in aces.

Which players are scoring the most net positive points (team errors provide parts of points)?

1. Zhi Yuan, 56.06 points
2. Edgar, 50.35 points
3. Muserskiy, 49.67 points
4. Rouzier and Taylor Sander of the USA, 46.17 points

Sander has only one less kill and one more hitting error than Yuan. Sander has 8 more blocks but is 10 aces behind Yuan. Also Yuan does not take serve receive, while Sander does.

Who are the best setters in the first round (kills-errors)/set attempts (over 50% of sets played)?

1. Pawel Zagumny of Poland, 9.42 assists
2. Nikola Jovovic of Serbia, 8.02
3. Tyler Sanders of Canada, 8.01
4. Benjamin Toniutti of France, 7.91
5. Eemi Tervapotti of Finland, 7.45

Zagumny helped Poland sweep their Pool in Phase 1. The gap to number two is over 1 assist a set. Considering you need two points to win a set, he’s made some very good decisions.
Below I have compiled the data for the Teams and Individual Players. On the team tab, I have organized the teams by their Groups. On the individual player tabs you can see how each player’s totals and averages compare to the other players with other teams.

If you have some statistics from the World Championships that you’d like to see more of or if you have any questions, just let me know.

(Images: FIVB)