Tokyo, Nov 29: World Champions Brazil outgunned the United States for a 10th straight win in the World Cup Men's Volleyball Tournament today to become the first team to qualify for the Athens Olympic games next year. The Brazilians, fifth behind the Americans four years ago, powered their way through to a 25-20, 25-21, 25-23 victory to secure a top three place in the 12-team round robin, winning one of the three tickets for Athens.

"First of all, I feel relieved," said Brazilian coach Bernardo Rezende. "We were very worried about the competition, because we had not much time to train (together), some players came from different states from all over the world."

"We are happy that we won, it was a 10th match, but still we have a tough match tomorrow. Right now, I'm thinking about how can we get better in the future, we have a lot of points we have to improve.

"We can be happy, but not satisfied thinking that we've done enough. We have something else for the future," added Rezende.

Brazilian captain Nalbert Bitencourt called the Olympic berth a "dream." Bureau Report