TOKYO, 1 December 2003 — Brazil yesterday added the World Cup title to their world championship triumph when they beat Japan to register 11 straight victories in the competition.
The South Americans won 25-17, 25-20, 25-16 in the Yoyogi Stadium in a match that had become irrelevant to their title challenge after challengers Italy were beaten by Serbia and Montenegro earlier in the day.
In front of 12,000 screaming local fans, Brazil made no mistake and walked away with the honor of having won the World League, the South American championship and the World Cup in the same year.
“It is my privilege to be the first ever head coach of Brazil to win this tournament,” coach Bernardo Rezende said. The World Cup triumph adds to Brazil’s impressive trophy collection and confirms their status as the world number one team.
Italy took the silver after bronze medalists Serbia and Montenegro handed the European champions their second loss of the tournament in four sets 25-18, 21-25, 30-28, 25-22 while USA claimed fourth spot for the fourth time in their World Cup history after beating France 3-1 (25-19, 20-25, 26-24, 28-26).
