Dubai: Cuba and Italy will have everything to play for in their last Pool A encounter on Saturday as both teams maintain their unbeaten records while Russia and Turkey will be in a similar position against each other in Pool B, following third round action at the FIVB Men’s U23 World Championship on Wednesday.

After scalping defending champions Brazil late on Tuesday, Russia fought hard against an inspired Argentina before carving out a 3-2 win (23-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-22, 15-9) to maintain their clean sheet at the Al Ahli Club. Turkey was the other team joining Russia in the unbeaten column with an emphatic 3-0 result (25-22, 28-26, 25-12) to keep Mexico without wins after three days of competition. The two teams will compete on Friday with the winner assured a spot in Sunday’s semi-finals.

In Pool A at Al Nasr Club, Cuba and Italy finished on nine points each following contrasting wins against Iran and South Korea, respectively. Cuba rode on superior experience at decision-making at the net to earn a hard-fought 3-1 win (33-31, 25-23, 15-25, 26-24) against the Asian champions while Italy fought off a determined South Korea to win 3-1 (25-15, 29-31, 25-22, 25-18).

In possibly the toughest match of the evening, Iran and Cuba matched each other. In the first set, the teams went in for the first technical timeout tied 8-8 until Cuba broke away 12-9 to eventually take the longest set of the tournament so far 33-31.

In the second set, Cuba continued with their composure — maintaining a healthy distance from the Asian champions. Iran didn’t gave up as they caught up at 20-20, but some good work from Miguel David Gutierrez at the net and Cuba wrapped up the set 25-23. The third set was a complete turnaround as Iran went clear 12-5 and then 16-9 to eventually finish 25-15 for the Cubans’ first set loss of this competition.

In the fourth set, Iran started off enjoying an 8-6 cushion early, but Cuba did well to tie the score at 15-15 and then 21-21 to eventually win the set and match 26-24 in nearly 140 minutes of exciting action.

Cuban coach Rodolfo Luis Sanchez was aware that the smaller aspects would fetch them a win. “Both teams fought well till the end, but I think my players were much better at decision-making at crucial stages. We have a few players who are 18 and 19 years old, but they have been playing with the senior team in the World League and it is this experience that made the difference today,” he said.

Iranian coach Peyman Akbari lauded his boys for their efforts. “This was a very high level match and we did well to match Cuba as much as we could. The points tell the story of how close we both were. We had our chances till the end, but we did not take these,” he noted.

“After the first set, I told my players to be themselves and they responded well. Finally, it was the smaller points that made the difference between victory and defeat,” he added.