Brazil secured a berth in the final after they edged past Serbia and Montenegro 3-1 at the 2006 men's volleyball world championship in Japan on Saturday.

The Brazilians, who are fighting for their second consecutive world championship title, went through tough 83 minutes to score a 25-19, 15-25, 25-22, 25-12 victory over their European opponents.

Brazil had nine wins against one defeat in the 24-team tournament and just needed one more win to claim their second title overall.

"There were two great teams and I have a lot of respect for Serbia and Montenegro. We now need to calm down for the final. I respect them, since either team could have won today." said Godoy, who led the match with 19 points for Brazil. His teammate Luiz da Silva Nascimento added 16 points.

Ivan Miljkovic scored 17 points for Serbia and Montenegro and Goran Vujevic had 12.

Brazil set up an early lead in the opening set and an Andre Heller block maintained Brazil's advantage at 15-13, but the South Americans were unable to open up a comfortable gap in the lead.

But then Godoy began to stamp his mark on the match. He fired home a series of spikes as Brazil advanced to 19-15. After the South Americans had set point at 24-19, and a misplaced spike from Serbia and Montenegro gifted them the win.

The Europeans hit back immediately in the second set. Andrija Geric shut off Godoy's path with a solid block, then Amaral spiked into the net as Serbia and Montenegro established a 5-1 lead.

Serbia and Montenegro never gave any chances to the defending champions and continued their assault. Marko Podrascanin's ace gave the Europeans set point at 24-14 and Andrija Geric notched at the net to bring his team back in to the match with 25-15.

Suffering a great blow, the Brazilians soon resumed in the following two sets. As they led the third set at 19-17 and Guimaraes Amaral's ace gave Brazil set point at 24-20.

Miljkovic saved two set points for Serbia and Montenegro but Amaral eventually restore Brazil's advantage with a powerful spike to finish the set 25-22.

Both teams traded heavy blows as the fourth set got underway, but a series of blocks gave Brazil a large lead 13-9.

Miljkovic tried to pull Serbia and Montenegro back on track but Brazil continued their winning momentum and sealed the victory with 25-12 with Andre Heller's ace.

Igor Kolakovic, head coach of Serbia and Montenegro, expressed his disappointment after the match but still said the team will looking forward to level the World Championship with a medal.

"Our big wish was completely diminished in the fourth set when Brazil made such a huge difference with the points. I hope that in tomorrow's game we will show the same approach that we had with the Brazilian team and that we will be able to leave with a medal. " said Kolakovic.

"It was a very tense match and we showed our tension at the beginning. Both teams made a lot of mistakes in the first set and in the second we waited too much. Then in the third and fourth it became a best of three. We served better and blocked better. We have to turn over the page and think about tomorrow right now." said Bernardo Rezende, head coach of Brazil.

With the victory, Brazil advanced into the final of the tournament and will face the winner of another semi-final between Poland and Bulgaria later on Saturday.

Source: Xinhua