Current champion of the League of Nations in men’s volleyball, the Brazilian team is out of the fight for the second championship. This Wednesday (20), in Bologna (Italy), the Brazilians were defeated by the United States, by three sets to one (25/20, 22/25, 23/25 and 17/25). The match opened the quarterfinals of the competition. The Americans face Poland or Iran in one of the semifinals.
?? 1 x 3 ??
25/20, 22/25, 23/25 and 17/25Today it didn’t work for our team ?
But let’s raise your head. The Olympic cycle is just beginning! ?? pic.twitter.com/cxQjWycxbh
— Team Brazil (@timebrasil) July 20, 2022
The early fall ends Brazil’s uneven campaign in the tournament. In the first phase, Renan Dal Zotto’s men advanced in sixth place to the knockout stage, with eight wins and four defeats – one of them to China, only the 13th place, by three to zero, in Brasília. The other stumbling blocks were for the USA, Poland and France, all rivals who were ahead in the classification.
In this Wednesday’s game, the Brazilians scored more attack points (61 to 56), but they missed much more than the Americans (28 to 21) and were stopped seven times by the block, three of them executed by central David Smith. The green and yellow wall only worked on three occasions. Despite this, Brazil was the top scorer of the match: pointer Yoandy Leal, with 18 hits.
The next challenge for Brazilian volleyball will be the World Championship, between August 26 and September 11, in Poland and Slovenia. The men’s team debut against Cuba and will still have Japan and Qatar ahead in Group B of the first phase. Brazil lifted the cup on three occasions (2002, 2006 and 2010) and was runner-up in the last two editions (2014 and 2018), both surpassed by the Poles.
