The customized Argentine disappointment on Conte’s face, who could have played his last World Cup. Photo JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP
The World Cup is over Argentina. The dream of adding the second medal in the history of national volleyball at this level of tournaments has come to an end. The men’s team, led by Marcelo Mendezdid not put with a Brazil clearly superior, which prevailed in Gliwice 3-1 (25-16, 23-25, 25-22 and 25-21) in the quarter-finals, and eliminated the Juventus team in the quarter-finals of the tournament which is held in Poland and Slovenia.
Great challenge for the albicelesti, but also the illusion, fueled by the great performance shown at the beginning of the playoffs, when they crushed in three sets Serbian, playing at a very high level. And also for the precedent of the last match against the classic South American rival, the one for the third place in the standings Tokyo Olympics last year, which took 3 to 2 to hang that historic bronze.
But Brazil gave no surprises. With a series serve and very solid play in attack and defense, the team was very solid in attack and defense – the yellow jerseys got tired of returning balls and put back some that seemed persistent. two-time champion of the last two World Cups (2014 and 2018) dominated the game from the start.
The first set was a monologue by the Brazilians, who overcame a version of the Argentine team that was more like the one they had suffered to get through the group stage: they lost their first two games by playing badly and only won the last one, against Egypt – of him who had descended with authority into Serbia.
The national team raised in the second. He started looking for variants with the serve – alternating some powerful, with others floating and well placed – thus managing to remove Brazil at times. And in an even partial, he confirmed his aim in the last points to draw the match.
In the third, once again, the Brazilians made the difference, led by the nationalized Cuban Fair, lethal in attack, from where he added 22 of the 25 points that made him the top scorer of the match. The group led by Renan Dal Zotto He was always on the front row in that set, in which he came to take a lead of six (20-14) and which he took with no problems.
Argentina did not give up and raised the bar in fourth place. With Bruno Lima Y Augustine Loser (with 13 and 12 points, respectively, Argentine top scorers of the afternoon) inspired; major interventions by Facundo Conte (11 and Luciano De Cecco and good passes Ezekiel Palacios, Martin Ramos And until Paul Kukarteventered confident, was 14-10 on the scoreboard.
The comeback seemed possible. However, with the transition to the semi-final at hand, Brazil has been fixing the details, leaning on the power of the opposite. Wallace (13) and from Lucarelli (12) to overturn history in that set, fought up to 20-20, and enter the semifinals for the tenth time in the last 11 editions. In that case he waits Polandtwice defending champion, or United States of America.
The green-amarelo team – who had reached the quarter-finals by eliminating in the round of 16 Iran 3-0 – Stay in the running for the sixth consecutive World Cup final. He hadn’t dropped from second place on the podium since 2002. That year, in Argentina, he won his first title. He repeated the celebration twice, in Japan in 2006 and in Italy in 2010. And he finished second in Poland in 2014 and 2018.
An unexpected ending for Argentina, which from less to more reached the quarter-finals and dreamed of winning the second World Cup medal, after the bronze achieved 34 years ago as a local.
Furthermore, the defeat could have been the last performance with the blue-white shirt with two badges of the chosen team. Because captain De Cecco, who has reached the record of five World Cup appearances, warned before his debut that this would be the last of his career. And Conte also hinted that he would “hang” the blue and white after the match.
But when the pain of elimination passes, the pride of having signed a historic performance will remain, because it’s been 20 years since Argentina were in the top eight in a World Cup. The last time was in the tournament that was played in our country in 2002, in which he finished in sixth place. When the anger for not being able to repeat the feat in Tokyo passes, the satisfaction of knowing that everything was left on the field appears, even if in the end it was not possible to break an opponent who was simply better.
Source: Clarin
