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Kenya need the win without a lost set to stay in for the final tournament. That's my pick here, they're just a level above Algeria. The two matches from June show it. Kenya beat Algeria 3-0 in the African championship, and it was the same in the group. Kenya won 17 small points more than Algeria in the final, and 14 in the group. The only thing working for Algeria here is their home court, but this match doesn't matter to them result-wise. Algeria played 10 sets on this tournament so far, Kenya six. The Kenyans are definitely more motivated, they're better rested, they're better physically, and Kenya will dominate the block. They faced each other last year in this competition, at the neutral court in Mexico. Kenya won 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-13). Considering this situation, it sounds like a good bet. Details

Portland are in a great form, and they're especially convincing at home where they won the last four league matches with the goal difference of 9-1. They beat San Jose in the last two matches, but the Earthquakes are coming without their best player, Wondolowski, and that's their biggest problem. Not only him, there are other important absences, and they can't really make up for that on the Portland's grass. Details

Croatia were very efficient from the tall positions in this tournament, and they played a great -looking basketball where their coach Nazor insists on running forward, on offensive rebounds and offenses rarely longer than 20 seconds. The Americans definitely don't mind that style, quite the opposite, it suits them, and since their rotation is much wider, they can keep up the fast rhythm throughout the whole match. They said they'll go to a higher gear against the Croats, and considering that they had 158 with 30 missed throws on both sides against the Greeks, and that the first match got close to 200 points, I doubt this can stay under 160. True, it's the final, but considering what these two teams showed, everything points to a game with a lot of points. Details

The Greek's strong side is obviously their defense. They depend on Charalampopoulos and Dorsey too much offensively, and they, like the rest of the team, spent too much energy yesterday. Greece scored 76 against the US, it went to over even though the first half-time was deep under. But the Greeks were forced to take too many risks because they had to catch up. They shot 25 three-pointers, scored ten. Both numbers were under average for them. It will be an even match with Turkey, they definitely see their chance for the bronze and I expect them top level defensively. Due to fatigue, and the style. Besides the US, the only other team they went over with on this margin were Tunisia, and that was because they scored 100. The Turks' attitude "we're good, we'll win even if we play bad" finally came back to bite them. Croatia scored 91 points and the Turkish defense were nonexistent. But, the Croatian offense are better and more versatile than the Greek, and it makes sense that the Turks will react after yesterday's disgrace. They conceded 64, 65, 51, 63, 70 and those 91 in the championship. Their defense is their strong suit, as well. It's important to mention that these same generations played last year's EC U18 group in Turkey. The Turks won 68-64. Details

I recently joked how these U19 Greeks could take even the Denver Nuggets to an under, and something along those lines can be said about Iran. They're aware of their offensive limitations, where they depend on Yousof Vand and Rezaifar, but that's far from pretty numbers. Iran scored most against Serbia here (70), and all the other matches stayed under 65. They left USA at 83 defensively, conceded 86 against Croatia, 83 against Serbia, and those are all good teams offensively. China scored 59, Turkey 73, Egypt who force running and fastbacks 62. The Dominican Republic don't seem convincing in these playoff, they're not motivated so they won't force a faster rhythm. They scored 78 to Tunisia, but that's Tunisia. And as irrelevant as the match for the 13th place might seem, Iran are motivated, they showed it against China yesterday. They've got five out of six unders on this margin, the Dominicans three out of six, but they went over against the surprisingly fast Serbia, Korea who always go over, and Italy with 55 points in the third period. These last two in the playoff stayed under 138. I expect Iran to force their rhythm because they're motivated, and nobody managed to make them play their way except for Serbia. Details

Jovović, Petrović, Atanasijević, Podraščanin and Stanković didn't go to Australia, but they got placed to the Final 6, and this is the best lineup Serbia have. With the brothers Kovačević as receivers, and Starović as opposite, they're still a great team who easily won the first match yesterday. I still expected Australia to win at least one here, and I'm hoping this will be it, where the odds are even bigger than in the first match. Even though they had a tough group, they played it okay, and deserved more than just one win. Also, the Russians got their first win of the World League in Iran, and complicated things for Australia because now the Australians need any kind of win to stay in the strongest group for the next year. The home court, motivation, Serbia's second lineup, and the big odds, it all points to a huge value we need to take. Details