IT will be a David-versus-Goliath kind of duel for the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The last hurdle for Italy to defend the world title is the tournament’s last undefeated team in ninth-ranked Bulgaria.
Italy subdued world No. 1 Poland in a rematch of the 2022 final that produced the same winning result, 25-21, 25-22, 25-23, to book its second consecutive trip to the gold medal game.
With world giants crashing out of contention one after the other, including the likes of Brazil, France, and Japan that took early exits from the global conclave, the road to a fifth world title grew clearer by the day for the Italians.
Reigning MVP and Italy captain Simone Giannelli refuses to acknowledge just yet how booting the world No. 1 out of the tournament makes them the ‘best in the world’ even as the defending champions.
“They [Poland] are the best team in the world. We [Italy] are not the best team in the world now because we won against the best team in the world,” Giannelli said.
“We are in a team sport. It's not a tennis. We know that it will be very difficult for us [to win the world title], but we have to maintain our level and to think about ourselves and to try to be present in the court.”
Golden end to Bulgarian dream run?
Prior to Italy’s knockout punch on Poland, Bulgaria put Czechia away in a 25-20, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22 decision for the country’s first World Championship final in 55 years.
It was nothing short of a historic win for arguably the greatest sibling act in all of world volleyball in 21-year-old tournament-leading spiker and attacker Aleks Nikolov and 18-year-old second-best setter Moni Nikolov.
Their dad Vladimir towed Bulgaria to its last World Championship medal in Japan in 2006 — a bronze medal finish in the last edition of the tournament to be held in an Asian country prior to the Philippines this year.
But this time, the Nikolovs aren’t going to yield to the pressure embedded in reaching the final knowing well enough that the team to beat and the team with more to lose isn’t them.
“It will take something special, for sure. [Italy] is better than us right now, we know it and they also know it. Pressure’s on them. We’re gonna come out swinging and if it’s enough, then it’s enough to try and color the medal in gold“ Aleks said.
“One thing for sure that I can tell you is that we’re gonna go out to win, we’re gonna die on the court if we have to and we’re gonna give it our all,” added Moni.
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