France, Germany, Poland, and Brazil advanced to the final four of the FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship in Poland on Thursday.

France ended the dreams of Iran for a semifinals berth as they ousted the Iranians in a grueling five setter 25-20, 25-23, 22-25, 19-25, 19-9 in a match that lasted just over two hours.

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Mory Sidibe led the Frenchmen with 17 points while Shahram Mahmoudi top scored for Iran with 22 points.

"It's an amazing feeling," France captain Benjamin Toniutti said. "We are among the four best teams in the world. We are in the semis against Brazil and we will fight like in all the competition."

Host nation Poland also eliminated second seeds Russia in a thrilling five-set match 25-22, 25-22, 21-25, 22-25, 15-11.

Mariusz Wlazly was the hero for Poland, scoring an amazing 28 points, 26 points from attacks and two service aces while Dmitriy Ilinykh top scored for Russia with 22 points.

"We were very excited all day long, now we feel great happiness," Poland team captain Michal Winiarski said. "Our dream came true, we are going to Katowice. Now we're dreaming of playing in the finals."

The Russian team was pressured into winning the match 3-0 or 3-1 in order to advance to the semis but was overwhelmed in the first two sets.

But when the Russian squad lost the first two sets, a huge weight has been lifted on their shoulders and they started playing better.

"When we knew we would not qualify we relaxed and we finally started playing better," Russia coach Andrey Voronkov said. "It is something we have to work on, improve our mentality, our play in the court and the service line in such situations."

France topped Pool G while Poland placed first in Pool H.

France will play Brazil and Poland will face Germany in the semis on Saturday.

TagsMory Sidibe, Benjamin Toniutti, Mariusz Wlazly, Michal Winiarski