On the edge of the abyss, the Cuban male squad was entrusted to the epic on Wednesday against the powerful cast of the United States, but ended up precipitating to be left out of the second phase of the World Volleyball Championship held in the Philippines.
Those led by Jesús Cruz needed the victory to exceed the group stage, but were victims of their inability to chain a stable and effective game to end up capitulating in four partials with boards of 17-25, 22-25, 25-23 and 25-27.
The farewell became more painful when in the fourth manga, and with the substitutes of the rival on the other side of the NET, they squandered a 23-19 advantage in the face of everyone’s disbelief.
On the northern side, Cooper Robinson’s offensive bulwark, author of 14 units, was erected as Cuba assumed the reference of the attack by the opposite José Massó, with a dozen points to his account.
Except in the service (9-6), the Cubans were surpassed in the fundamental aspects of the game -atheque (45-61) and blocking (10-13)-, according to the collective statistics released by the official website of the contest.
In this way, the Cuban cast closes the initial segment with the balance of a success in three presentations, thanks to a sweep on Colombian formation, the weakest of the key D.
In addition to the stumbling block against the Americans, Cruz disciples fit in their debut a 1-3 defeat against the surprising set of Portugal, which ended up taking the other ticket to the next round.
From all points of view, the performance of Cuba in the LID qualifies as disappointing, because everything pointed to a possible rebound in international results, driven by a generation of young players who has acquired prominence in demanding international leagues.
The expectations had been relaunched after the performance in the most recent Liga of Volleyball Nations (VNL), in which the whole of the island battled until it was first sneaking among the eight that advanced to the medals dispute.
Victoria over Colombia gives Cuba at the World Volleyball World
The new failure must also mark the farewell of some players of the national team, including the experienced central Robertland Simón, who had returned to the group after several years of absence.
The question about the future of Cruz at the head of the group for a new cycle is also opened, taking into account the recent commitment to a foreign technician to refloat the good results of the female squad, which came to win three Olympic titles consecutively.
