This will be in their first encounter in the second round of the tournament.

Cameroon takes on the United States of America today in the first of their two matches counting for the second round of the ongoing 17th edition of the men world Volleyball Championship in Italy. The second encounter will be tomorrow against the Czech Republic. After clinching a historic second round spot, the Volleyball Lions now intend to upset the apple cart in world volleyball by going as far as possible in the competition. A victory against either USA or the Czech Republic will be enough to enable Cameroon sail to the third round of the competition given that two teams from each group qualify for the next stage of the tournament.

Cameroon has what it takes to qualify for the third round given that their performance has been in crescendo since the beginning of the tournament. After falling to Russia and Porto Rico in the group phase, Cameroon bounced back to beat Australia 3 sets to 1, to qualify for the semi finals for the first time in history. The last time Lions came close to the second round of the competition was in 1990 when Cameroon beat Venezuela in a consolation final for 13-16 spots at the Men's World Championship, but failed to qualify for the second round.

Of the three African countries representing the continent at the tournament, only Cameroon and Egypt could make it to the second round. Egypt will be evolving in group ‘I’ alongside Russia and Spain. Only two, teams qualify from each pool for the third round. 24 teams took part in the first round, out of which 18 teams qualified for the second round. There will be 12 teams in the third round, semi finals and finals of the tournament.