THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 14 : U.S. Beats Brazil to Advance to Volleyball Final

SEOUL —  It got a little ugly at the end, with a few gestures that translated just fine without a United Nations interpreter. But that’s business as usual for the U.S. volleyball team, which seems to inspire intensity on both sides of the court.

In fact, the U.S. team, an easy straight-set winner in its semifinal match, threw off so much heat Friday that even Brazil, poor outclassed Brazil, reached a nice warmth, like the boiling point.

You could almost see it developing. The United States hasn’t taken much for granted on its almost inevitable way to a gold-medal match Sunday, most likely against the Soviet Union (which played Argentina later Friday night), and it was not about to allow Brazil a pass in a semifinal match. So the U.S. pounded ahead, winning the first two games, 15-3 and 15-5, at one point running off a stretch of 19 points.

“In 20 minutes, down, 2-0 (in games),” sighed Brazilian Coach Paulo Freitas.

But Brazil, which is in a little disarray at this point--Freitas, coach of the 1984 silver-medal winner, was called in just 2 months ago--suddenly got hopeful in the third game after going ahead, 6-0. The U.S. team, undefeated in this Olympic tournament, came back, as it always has and, with some stiff blocking from Karch Kiraly, went from 11-8 down to a 12-11 ahead.

Kiraly said: “They probably figured it was a fluke to get blocked by me one time,” he said. “They came back to me again, so I fluked out twice.”

That evidently was maddening. On the next point, as Kiraly described it, “I hit a tool (carom) shot off (Antonio Gouveia) and it landed on my side and I let it go. It was close but out. I put my hands up, and he was yelling at me like I blocked it. Then he was calling me a . . . and I flipped him off once or twice.”

That went back and forth, the frustration of the Brazilians also being manifested in sign language.

Kiraly paused. “Most teams are smart enough to let sleeping dogs lie,” he said.

In about 30 more seconds, the United States had wrapped it up, winning, 15-11, in a match that took 1 hour 10 minutes.

Anybody who has been able to watch the U.S. team practice would not have been surprised at the level of intensity. But then, nobody is allowed to watch the team practice.

“Uh, we don’t like that to happen,” Coach Marv Dunphy said, “because we compete as well or better as in games.”

According to Dunphy, it got wild enough 2 days ago in practice that he had to step in and perform peacemaking duties. Steve Timmons had explained, “I’m ready for Brazil right now.” Before and after, apparently.

Dunphy was prepared to make peace at game’s end Friday, just as after practice. He quickly went to shake Freitas’ hand and instructed his assistant to round up the U.S. players. In time, of course, everybody shook everybody else’s hands. Bring on the Soviets.

Timmons, the 6-foot 5-inch killer, has been pleased with the level of competition in the practice gym, altogether encouraged, in fact.

“Oh, we have some civil wars,” he said. “Whether it’s for 10 situps or a 6-pack, this team will go to the last point to win. Sometimes, we even scream and yell at each other.”

And that’s all?

“Sometimes, too, we throw balls at each other. The thing is, we care enough about our level of play never to let it slip. So if someone aces us twice, we’ll say something. If Jeff (Stork) sets a ball I don’t like, I tell him.”

Dunphy, who occasionally “has to set them apart,” likes this situation. “I never have to put steam in the boiler,” he said.

How much steam the United States will need Sunday is a good question. The Soviets were once the best in the world, but the U.S. emergence in the 1984 Olympics was no more a fluke than one of Kiraly’s blocks. It may be that the Soviets weren’t there that year, but the U.S. has beaten them six of eight times in world-class competition since then. And the losses occurred when the Americans were without Timmons or Kiraly.

Even in these Olympics, the Soviets have had trouble, losing to Brazil, in fact. And they were no lock to get past Argentina. Still, the U.S. volleyball players, most of whom began as basketball players, looked toward such a final as a kind of revenge for the U.S. basketball team’s defeat.

“We saw how dejected they were, and what went through all our minds is, ‘We don’t want to play for the bronze,’ ” Bob Ctvrtlik said.

So that will not happen.

“Instead, we’re playing for our second gold,” Craig Buck said. “The first was a little unproven, the Russians not being there. But since then there’s no question we’ve been dominant. This will be the exclamation point.”

Said Kiraly: “We’re just trying to do what the Lakers did, repeat.”