Brazil, Yugoslavia, France and Russia reach semifinals

Associated Press, Buenos Aires

France defeated host Argentina 3-1 on Wednesday to advance to the semifinals of the men's World Volleyball Championship.

Brazil and Yugoslavia meet later on Thursday in the other semifinals in Buenos Aires, while France plays Russia on Friday in Cordoba for a spot in the finals.

Brazil beat defending champion Italy in a marathon five-set match Wednesday to advance to the semifinals. Russia defeated Greece and Yugoslavia downed Portugal.

With a two-set advantage, Brazil encountered strong play by the Italians before finally winning 3-2 (25-23, 25-23, 23-25, 26- 28, 15-13).

Alessandro Fei's 21 points, the best in the match, were not enough for Italy.

Henrique lead Brazil's offensive with 15 points.

In Buenos Aires, Russia put an end to tournament surprise Greece with a 3-0 victory (25-22, 25-22, 25-21).

Also in Buenos Aires, France overcame a disastrous first set and the loss of its injured captain Dominique Daquin in the third by beating beat Argentina 3-1 (14-25, 29-27, 25-23, 25-18).

It was a sad night for Argentina as the team's triumphant campaign during the early phases of the tournament provoked a wave of national enthusiasm. More than 9,000 people packed the Luna Park coliseum to see their new heroes to fall to the French.

It was the third straight frustration for Argentina in a world tournament this year: its soccer squad was booted in the first round of the World Cup in Japan and its basketball team fell to Yugoslavia in the final of the world tournament in Indianapolis.

Yugoslavia advanced in straight sets over Portugal, 25-20, 25- 23, 25-16, setting the stage for the semifinals clash with Brazil.

Yugoslav coach Veselin Vukovic said, "That at moments we thought more about the semifinals match and that is why we committed so many mistakes. But tomorrow (Thursday) we are not going to do that".

Yugoslav team captain Nikola Grbic will be playing his second world tournament. He was on the Yugoslavia team that finished second to Italy in Japan in 1998.

"We lost only two sets to reach the semifinals here", said Grbic, but he cautioned about the upcoming game against Brazil.

"We have won comfortably and we never speculated about the rival that we could meet next", he said. "We did not have any bitter rival so far and that can be dangerous to face the next match".