Pool G (Catania): Italy-Puerto Rico 3-1 (25-22, 25-16, 18-25, 25-21)
More than 5,000 watched Italy defeating Puerto Rico 3-1 (25-22, 25-16, 18-25, 25-21) to win Pool G and qualify to the third round in the FIVB Men’s World Championship.
Germany also advanced to the competition between the last twelve teams while Puerto Rico finished its participation.
Italian Alessandro Fei charted 20 points to lead the scores and two other teammates – Simone Parodi and Luigi Mastrangelo- also registered double digits with 13 and 12 points respectively.
Parodi and Mastrangelo each totaled four blocks as Italy outscored Puerto Rico in the blocking department 14-4.
Hector Soto topped the defeated sided with 18 points while Juan Figueroa came off the bench to score 10 in the last two sets. Enrique Escalante and Jose Rivera each compiled 9 tallies.

Hector Soto, Captain of Puerto Rico: “We started with a lot of pressure because to stay in the tournament we had to win by a big margin. It took us to sets to play with some rhythm and benefited from the Italian mistakes in the third set. We struggled for second match in a row trying to get going. Now we are going back home with mixed emotions and some kind of disappointed.”
Valerio Vermiglio, Captain of Italy: “We had a good start but then we lost our focus and our play was unbalanced. I think we need to concentrate better in the upcoming matches but we are happy about going to Rome.”
Carlos Cardona, Coach of Puerto Rico: “Our team has not played up to his real level and we have not been able to put in practice the fast pace we established in our previous competitions. Our reception has not been good which has not been a frequent case. I think we have played many competitions and the team is under a lot of stress. A good rest will shall be good. Regarding Italy, they played today with many mistakes but played good enough to deserve the win.”
Andrea Anastasi, Coach of Italy: “It was a good victory for us despite our inconsistency and many mistakes. But the block and the defense were there and now we go to Rome. The team is in a good momentum and we need to correct those little problems of lack of concentration.”

Pool M (Milano): Argentina-Japan 3-1 (25-22, 16-25, 25-14, 25-19).
Argentina beats Japan in the last match of the second round in Milan and qualifies for the next round with France. Japan is out of the competition.
The first set is very balanced at the start (3-4, 7-6), then Argentina gains a small advantage on 10-7. Quiroga scores the 17-13 point, Japan resists with Abe (20-18) but Facundo Conte's attack closes the set on 25-22. Several mistakes by Argentina give Japan the lead in the second set: 6-8 at first technical time out. Yoneyama, with 3 points in a row, triggers Japanese enthusiasm (10-14), then scores again for 12-17. Japan keeps its advantage and closes the set with 4 consecutive points. Argentina obtains an early break in the third set, leading 8-2 with 5 opponents errors; despite of Ishijima and Shimizu's tries, Argentina directly flies to 16-8 and Conte, inspired by a great De Cecco's play, scores for 21-12. Blanco closes the set with a winning attack followed by a block. In the fourth set Argentina leads 4-2 and 7-5 thank to an ace by Pereyra, but Japan ties the score with Shimizu. At the end of a long play-by-play point, Argentina goes ahead 16-13 and then 19-15 with a block by Sole; Japan can't recover the gap and Conte closes the match with an ace.

"I'm very happy - says Argentinian captain Rodrigo Quiroga - we hit the target we fixed, the first place in this pool. Japan's defense is the best in the world, but we were very patient".

"From the beginning of the World Championship - comments Tatsuya Ueta, coach of Japan - we had the same problem: we can't be continuous. We have to take inspiration from Argentina".

Pool N (Ancona): Brazil-Bulgaria 0-3 (18-25, 20-25, 20-25)
With their qualifying positions already assured in the next level, the two teams vied for first place in the current round. Bulgaria took the upper-hand (18-25, 20-25, 20-25 ) with a Brazil that certainly didn’t put its best foot forward leaving the 6,050 fans with a bitter taste in their mouth.  The show we were promised by the two teams vanished. 
The well planned line-up of Prandi shows a superiority in attack (55 to 31%) and receiving (67 to 38%), with 10 aces and 7 blocks exacting 27 errors by their adversaries.

Standings

Pool G (Catania): Italy 4, Germany 3, Puerto Rico 1.
Pool I (Catania): Spain 4, Russia, 3, Egypt 2.
Pool H (Milano): Serbia 4, Cuba 3, Mexico 2.
Pool M (Milano): Argentina 4, France 3,  Japan 1.
Pool L (Ancona): Czech Republic 4, Usa 3,  Cameroon 2.
Pool N (Ancona): Bulgaria 4, Brazil 3, Poland 2.

Pools of 3rd Round

Pool O (Roma): FRANCE, USA, ITALY.
Pool P (Firenze): SERBIA, ARGENTINA, RUSSIA.
Pool Q (Firenze): SPAIN, BULGARIA, CUBA.
Pool R (Roma): CZECH REPUBLIC, BRAZIL, GERMANY.

Match schedule of 3rd Round

Pool O (Roma): 4/10 FRANCE-USA h.17; 5/10 USA-ITALY h.17; 6/10 ITALIA-FRANCE h. 17.
Pool P (Firenze): 4/10 SERBIA-ARGENTINA h.17; 5/10 RUSSIA-SERBIA h.17; 6/10 ARGENTINA-RUSSIA h.17.
Pool Q (Firenze): 4 /10 SPAIN-BULGARIA h.21; 5/10 CUBA-SPAIN h.21; 6/10 BULGARIA-CUBA h.21.
Pool R (Roma): 4/10 CZECH REPUBLIC-BRAZIL h.21; 5/10 GERMANY-CZECH REPUBLIC h.21; 6/10 BRAZIL-GERMANY h.21.