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| Pool I - Quarter Finals Schedule No. Date/Time Teams City 80 09/11/2002, 18:00 KOR � ITA Stuttgart 82 09/11/2002, 20:30 CHN � BRA Stuttgart China vs. Brazil (Wednesday 11 September 2030 CET, Stuttgart) China and Brazil meet for the second time in the 2002 Women's World Championship. China defeated the South American Champion 3-1 in the preliminary pool clash in Leipzig. The match should nevertheless be a tight one when the two sides face each other in the quarterfinals. The young Brazilian team has been constantly improving during the tournament and seems to have found true joy on the court while China has had a few problems in recent matches, losing against Greece in the first round and against Korea in the second. Despite these defeats is China still one of the major candidates for the World Title. All 12 players of coach Zhonghe Chen are capable of competing at the highest level, but because he likes to rotate his players often they don't tend to play as many sets as those of the other top teams. China's Ruirui Zhao, Yanan Liu and setter Kun Feng are all world-class athletes and will certainly not make it easy for Brazil. Meanwhile, the youthful Brazil side is enjoying increasing confidence and is definitely a team for the future. Despite the loss against China in the first round and against USA in the second, the South American formation is capable of pulling off a victory against China. Brazil can play without any pressure, because losing against China will be no shame and if Paula Pequeno, Welissa Gonzalez and Luciana Nascimento can score as they did in the last matches, Brazil can be very dangerous. |
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