Brazil stormed its way through its women's volleyball semifinal against China last night to set up a final clash with the United States tomorrow.
Earlier, the Americans had stunned a hapless Cuba in an easy straight sets win.
Brazilian players try to block a shot by China's Xue Ming. [China Daily]
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Brazil, the world No 1 side, was too good for China and overcame the hosts 27-25, 25-22 and 25-14 in a one-sided game in which the hosts displayed many defensive errors.
It was the South Americans' seventh consecutive straight-sets win at the tournament.
In the other semifinal, it was the US which turned the tables on Cuba. The Caribbean side had thrashed the Americans in their group meeting with its powerful spikers dominating in a 3-0 victory.
But yesterday, it was the US, which had already upset World Cup winner Italy in the quarterfinals, which reigned supreme. It beat Cuba, which until then had a 100 per cent record in the competition, dropping only three sets, 25-20, 25-16, 25-17.
US head coach Lang Ping, the former Chinese player and national head coach, said it was a great result for the Americans.
"It's an unbelievable victory and I never thought it could be 3-0. They did a fantastic job and they deserved it. The players, especially the veteran players, have worked for this dream in the past three or four years," Lang said.
US captain Lindsay Berg said she was thrilled by the victory.
"Cuba has the potential to be the best team in the world as we saw in the preliminary game against them. However we couldn't lose our confidence. We fought our hearts out and we played the best volleyball of the tournament at the right time," she added.
Brazilian head coach Jose Roberto Guimaraes said the match against America tomorrow will be difficult.
"The US team has done a great job in the quarter and semifinals beating Italy and Cuba. Our players have to take care and we have many things to do before the final."
Chinese head coach Chen Zhonghe made no apology for his players and said the team's defeat was not to do with the pressure of expectations. "It is not the pressure to retain the title on home soil that crushed the Chinese players but the lack of strong will in the competition that led to the poor performance," he said.
"After they lost the first set, their minds went into meltdown and they could not play consistently in the rest of the match. We have problems with our counter-attacking and passing.
"The team has been through many ups and downs in recent years and it plays inconsistently even during training. The main reason is that they do not have a strong will to win," Chen said.
China will now face Cuba in the bronze medal match, also tomorrow.
Agencies contributed to the story