The Bulgarian national team recorded a clean 3:0 victory (25:17, 25:23, 25:21) against Canada in a match from Group B of the preliminary stage of the tournament in Tashkent. With this success, coach Miroslav Zhivkov's proteges achieved their fourth consecutive victory and secured first place in the group even before the end of the group stage.

This became possible after France lost a point and two sets in their five-set match against Japan (3:2) earlier today, which made it mathematically impossible for Bulgaria to be overtaken, regardless of the outcome of their direct clash tomorrow.
Despite some fluctuations in the second set and partly in the third, the Bulgarians showed stronger nerves for most of the match. The lack of concentration after the emphatic first set was compensated by Canada's errors, which contributed 31 points to this statistic.

📊 Overall Match Statistics

• Attack:Bulgaria – 38, Canada – 32

• Block:Bulgaria – 2, Canada – 6

• Service:Bulgaria – 2 aces, Canada – 3

• Points from opponent's errors:Bulgaria received 31, Canada – 20

• Total points:Bulgaria – 73, Canada – 61
  🎯Point coefficient for the entire match:
  Bulgaria won 73 out of 134 played points ≈ 54.48%

  → This isa satisfactory coefficient, butnot optimalfor a match won 3:0. This shows that even without losing a set, the match was difficult and the team needs to limit moments of relaxation, especially against higher-ranked opponents.

🛡️ Game elements

• Balls saved in defense:Bulgaria – 61, Canada – 55

• Reception:Bulgaria – 50, Canada – 62

• Sets:Bulgaria – 89, Canada – 94

🔝 Top Scorers

• Bulgaria:

  • Velichkov (№3) – 14 points

  • Marinov (№7) – 11 points

• Canada:

  • Baranyuk (№77) – 13 points

  • Dezutter (№9) – 11 points

1️⃣ First set (25:17):

Bulgaria started with confident play, dominating in attack and capitalizing on opponent errors. Service was stable, and defensive organization was effective. The Canadian team seemed overwhelmed and conceded too many easy points.

2️⃣ Second set (25:23):

This was the most contested set, in which the Bulgarian team experienced a noticeable drop in concentration, reflected in an increase in unforced errors – a total of 14 points gifted to Canada in this set alone. This negatively affected the point coefficient (52.08%), even though the team managed to maintain its lead and close out the set.

The victory, however, did not come easy – Canada equalized the score several times at the end (19:19, 20:20, 21:21). After a successful attack by Konstantinov and a block, Bulgaria took a 23:21 lead. Velichkov brought the first set point, but the opponent saved it and even reduced the difference to one point, after Velichkov himself was stopped with a block for 24:23.

Marin took the dispute to an end, scoring a difficult but decisive point after an attack, assisted by an excellently lifted ball from the backcourt. Thus, Bulgaria nevertheless increased its advantage and took a 2:0 lead in sets.

3️⃣ Third set (25:21):

In the last set, the Bulgarian team again suffered a drop in concentration, despite starting with a comfortable 3:0 lead. The Canadians managed to turn the tide of the game and even took the lead, with the score moving point for point — sometimes in our favor, sometimes in theirs, and both teams made unforced errors.

The opponent again increased the tempo and took advantage of our relaxation, equalizing the score in the crucial part of the set (20:20, 21:21). Errors from Canada followed, which allowed us to take a 23:21 lead. Uzunov made an impressive solo block for the first match point, and Totkov closed the match with a powerful counter-attack after an excellent block by our players.

Bulgaria demonstrated that regardless of the temporary dip in the second and third sets, the team managed to return to a stable rhythm and finished the match without losing a set.

🏆 Standings – Group B (men)

With the fourth consecutive victory achieved so far, Bulgaria has secured first place in the group, even before tomorrow's clash with France. Even in the event of a potential 0:3 loss to the "Roosters," our team will not be displaced from the top, thanks to its significantly better set ratio.