World champions Brazil ended Germany's dream run with an efficient 3-0 victory on Wednesday in Pool B of the FIVB Volleyball World Championship for Men in Fukuoka.
Still recovering from their 3-1 loss to France on Sunday, the Brazilians produced a no-nonsense display to score a 25-13, 25-21, 25-22 victory that took their win-loss record to 4-1 after the completion of their preliminary matches.
Germany, who themselves stunned France 3-1 on Tuesday, also have a 4-1 record as both teams comfortably qualified for the second round in Hiroshima.
Brazil's margin of victory boosted their points ratio and enabled them to finish ahead of the Germans in the group.
France were later playing Cuba with the aim of joining Brazil and Germany on 4-1. However, all the teams must be wary of any more losses in Hiroshima's Pool F that could jeopardise their semi-final chances.
The Brazilians have yet to play their best in this tournament and knew they had to be better than average to overcome the Germans.
In the end, it was merely a case of doing the simple things well as Germany saw their incredible unbeaten record shattered.
Andre Nascimento fired in two service winners and a spike to propel Brazil to an 8-5 lead, with Bjorn Andrae slamming down two winners for Germany.
Having played beyond themselves against France the day before, Germany knew they had to go even higher against the world and Olympic champions.
But they could do nothing against Brazil in the early stages, especially with Nascimento's demon serves and his blazing spikes. Brazil stretched their lead to 16-10 as Germany's defence struggled.
German coach Stelian Moculescu called a second time out at 18-10 down after his players found themselves again bogged down by great serving, this time from Dante Amaral.
Christian Pampel tried to stem the Brazil tide but Nascimento was productive on the right and Brazil eventually took the set by a comfortable margin.
Nascimento went 100 per cent with spike attempts in the first set, nailing five while Pampel earned the same for German, from eight attempts.
Brazil knew that the Germans had lost the first set to France as well before roaring back for a famous victory.
So there was no letting up from the South Americans in the second set, Amaral and Nascimento and captain Ricardo Garcia taking them to an 8-4 lead.
But the Germans never know when to lay down, sparked by Marcus Popp, who produced a couple of winners from the left to give his team a 14-13 advantage that jolted Brazil into a time-out.
Brazil lifted it a notch and Gilberto "Giba" Godoy restored his team's lead at 16-15. The Brazilians had their first wake-up call and surged to a 20-16 lead on the back of some solid defending and spiking.
Giba gave Brazil four set points and he himself converted it on the second go but Brazil, with their eyes on the points ratio statistics, will rue a series of errors that allowed Germany to breach the 20-point barrier.
The third set was an equal affair early on but went into the first time out with Brazil's Garcia, as he did in the second, producing a cheeky winner to give his team an 8-6 lead.
Stefan Hubner was becoming more influential for Germany, his two spikes turning the tables and allowing his team to fight back to 8-8.
Good work from Ralph Bergmann and Pampel, with captain Frank Dehne coming in as setter for Simon Tischer, allowed Germany to stage another comeback to lead 15-14 from 12-9 down.
Dehne's quick thinking, like his opposite Garcia before him, put Germany ahead 16-15 at the second time out.
However, Brazil regained their lead and went on to a 20-18 buffer and then established three set points.
Substitute Anderson Rodrigues finally gave them victory with his spike down the right.
