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2007 Men’s World Cup
Egyptians end on a high with a
third successive victory over Australia
 Tokyo, Japan, December 2, 2007 —
African champions Egypt downed Asian champions Australia in four
sets in their final game of the men’s World Cup on Sunday. Man
of the match Abdalla Ahmed recovered from a head injury in the
early stages to inspire Egypt to a 25-14, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22
victory at Komazawa Gymnasium in Tokyo. It was Egypt’s third
victory of the tournament to be the first African team in the
history to achieve this, while Australia dropped to 4-7.European
champions Spain downed African vice champions Tunisia in four
sets on Sunday to end the men’s World Cup with a 7-4 record and
finish in fifth place. Man of the match Guillermo Falasca
inspired the Spanish to a 25-16, 25-22, 21-25, 25-18 win at
Komazawa Gymnasium in Tokyo, handing the Tunisians their 10th
defeat of the tournament.Paul Carroll ended the tournament on
200 points, likely finishing behind just Hector Soto in the race
for most points scored by a player, depending on any unlikely
scoring feat in the Japan-Brazil match at Site A.Ahmed was in
fine fettle for Egypt from the start of proceedings and he
smacked down a big spike to make it 8-3 at the first technical
timeout, before smashing in an ace to make it 10-5.Australia
were caught cold by the Egyptians’ aggressive start to the game
and despite coach Russell Borgeaud making a number of early
substitutions Egypt continued to run away with it and led 16-9
at the second TTO.The Aussies’ tendency to spike long on
occasion meant Egypt were soon 20-11 ahead and they increased
that lead with an ace from Hossam Shaarawy.Egypt soon closed out
the set. Ahmed aced for 23-15 and then did exactly the same to
gain set point. And after some brilliant recovery play, Egypt
won the set when Nathan Roberts spiked into the net.Yet another
ace from Ahmed got Egypt off to a good start in the second set
but then disaster struck as he was hit in the head by a teammate
when hitting a spiked winner and the North Africans’ star man up
to that point had to be escorted off the court in agony, an ice
pack held to his head.Egypt still held the lead by two at the
first TTO but a brilliant recovery by Roberts ended with Luke
Campbell spiking a big winner and the Aussies quickly leveled at
8-8.Luckily for Egypt, Ahmed then returned to the fray and
another boost was that Elnaeim Ahmed Abd (Salah) started to find
his range with spikes. Egypt took a 12-10 lead on a Salah
special, at which point Australia called a timeout.Salah scored
a fluky ace — the ball dancing on the top of the net before
dropping Aussie side — and then Ahmed blocked a beauty to make
it 15-11.Australia then stormed back to only trail by one,
Campbell and David Ferguson working well at the net, but Egypt
made it to the second TTO leading by two.The Aussies pulled
level at 17-17 when Carroll spiked well on the right and then
Carroll blocked brilliantly to put his team ahead.Ace-machine
Ahmed served up another to put Egypt 19-18 ahead and stop the
Aussie comeback in its tracks. Borgeaud called a timeout to fix
things and it was tight as the match leveled out at 20-20.Igor
Yudin then put the Aussies in front before serving long to
equalize the score again. Salah’s long serve then gave the
Aussies the advantage at 23-22 before Ahmed tipped over to level
things.The next point was a huge one and it went to Australia,
with Yudin storming through the middle to spike for set point
and the Aussies claimed the bracket with a rare wayward spike
from Ahmed.Egypt led by three at the first technical timeout of
the third set, with captain Hamdy Awad squeezing in a spike on
the left for 8-5.Mohamed Badawy crashed in a big spike on the
left for 12-10 Egypt, and Badawy spiked again to keep that gap
at the second TTO.Ahmed extended the lead to three at 18-15 when
he savagely spiked a loose ball and Salah’s sneaky ace — the
ball dropped like a stone — made it 19-15.The gap was too big
for Australia. Mohamed Elnafrawy spiked for 22-19 and Salah
produced a big spike on the right for set point. And it was
Salah once again who strode up to smash home a clean winner to
clinch the set.Australia needed to rally to save the match and
they raced into a four-point lead in the fourth set to lead 8-4
at the TTO. The Egyptians fought back, though, and the lead was
cut to two at 14-12.Campbell’s spike kept Australia’s two-point
lead at the second TTO, but Egypt kept coming back at them and
drew level at 18-18 when Elnafrawy blocked.The same player
blocked again to put the North Africans ahead and now Egypt had
control. Benjamin Hardy served into the net to give Egypt the
lead again at 22-21 and then Mohamed Gabal served a brilliant
clean ace to put his team two ahead.The end was in sight. Salah
smashed in a spike for match point and he crashed home a
brilliant ace to secure victory. Tunisia lost their last match
against SpainTokyo, Japan, December 2, 2007 — European champions
Spain downed African vice champions Tunisia in four sets on
Sunday to end the men’s World Cup with a 7-4 record and finish
in fifth place.Man of the match Guillermo Falasca inspired the
Spanish to a 25-16, 25-22, 21-25, 25-18 win at Komazawa
Gymnasium in Tokyo, handing the Tunisians their 10th defeat of
the tournament.The Spanish were comfortably in control from the
start against Tunisia, with Jose Luis Molto’s spike putting the
Europeans five ahead at the first technical timeout.There was a
slight pause in play when Tunisia’s Hosni Karamosly injured his
left hand and doubled over in pain, but Spain didn’t skip a beat
and reached the second TTO leading 16-11 after a hard spike on
the left from Manuel Sevillano.Guillermo Falasca’s pip-point
spike made it 17-11 and the Spanish were now running away with
it. Soon they were leading 20-11, forcing Tunisia coach Antonio
Giacobbe to call a timeout.A huge diagonal spike from Sevillano
made it 21-12 and then Israel Rodriguez popped up in the same
spot to smash down for 23-14.An ace from Miguel Angel Falasca
ensured set point for Spain and the set was clinched when
Tunisia captain Ghazi Guidara served into the net.A howitzer of
an ace from Marouane Garci put Tunisia 3-1 up in the second set
and another from Skander Ben Tara added to a Rodriguez’s serve
into the net put the North Americans two ahead at the first
TTO.Spain kept pressing, though, and took the lead at 14-13
through Javier Subiela’s spike and then Guillermo Falasca
doubled that lead with a well-placed effort. A wide effort from
Tunisia then gave Spain a three-point lead at the second
TTO.Spain quickly increased their lead to 20-15, causing Tunisia
to call a timeout, but once again there was no stopping the
Europeans closing out the set, even if the Tunisians pushed
hard.Subiela snapped in a vertical spike for set point but some
good blocking from Tunisia reduced Spain’s lead to two before
Subiela finally finished things off with another spike down the
middle.Guillermo Falasca was continuing to cause untold problems
for the Tunisians with his spiking on the right — and sometimes
left — but Hichem Kaabi was doing well himself on the Tunisian
right, making sure his team kept tabs on the Spanish.It was
Kaabi that gave Tunisia the slightest of advantages at the
second TTO, with another of his well-executed spikes on the
right.Noureddine Hfaiedh increased the lead at 17-15 and Kaabi
renewed the two-point gap at 18-16. Chokri Jouini then blocked
Guillermo Falasca superbly to give the Tunisians a 19-16
lead.Spain were on the ropes in the set and coach Marcelo R.
Mendez called a timeout to try to remedy things.A big block from
Miguel Angel Falasca reduced Tunisia’s lead to one at 20-19, but
Tunisia battled back and Guidara slapped down a loose ball to
make it 22-19. Mendez called another timeout, but it didn’t do
any good.Ben Tara blocked well for 23-19, Kaabi smashed a spike
against the blockers and out of bounds for set point and he then
popped up on the left to smash another spike against the Spanish
blockers and out to wrap up things.The Spanish were stung into
action and looked more focused at the start of the fourth set,
leading by four at the first TTO.Rodriguez sliced an ace through
the Tunisians to put Spain 13-10 ahead and despite the
Kaabi-inspired North Africans pushing hard the Europeans arrived
at the second TTO leading by four.Rodriguez spiked from the left
for 20-14 and Subiela smashed one in for 22-16 before his
carbon-copy effort made it 23-17.Spain closed out the match
momentarily. Molto stepped up on the right to fire one home
before Guillermo Falasca finished things off with an
uncontrollable spike on the right.
Photo
CaptionAustralian Igor
Yudin spikes against Ahmed Abdalla from Egypt
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