Who knows, maybe these new Peruvians will show more fighting spirit than the last team that bombed in Atlanta. The new faces of Brazil, here seen at the '99 Winnipeg Pan-American Games. My favourite teams at the moment are Brazil and South Korea, for the reasons I specified above. Brazil's school of volleyball is home-grown, with a lot of influence from men's volleyball. Their coaches at one time or another were players at very high levels, and they brought their empirical knowledge over to women's volleyball.
Brazil runs many combination plays that the men do, such as the middle stack with a back row hitter.
They have many new, young, strong players who are over brimming with desire to win, especially over traditional rival Cuba, the toughest hurdle they will have to clear. The other obstacle is Russia, a team that up to the '98 Grand Prix final seemed to be under Brazil's control. But since then, Russia has beat Brazil every single time it mattered, so maybe it's time Brazil shook off its nerves and showed the world that it can beat anyone. Many Brazilians wanted Fernanda Venturini to return, claiming that Fof o isn't as good a setter, and that Brazil should send the best it has. But if Fernanda goes, it will mostly be to break an Olympic record, for she will be the only woman to have played volleyball in four consecutive games.