It was the first time that I've ever seen such exciting and fun-to-watch World Cup volleyball.
In the past, matches between top-ranked foreign teams were worth watching, but matches against Japan were... but this time, I was very excited to see how strong Japan was! How cool Japan was! They won their first match against Italy in straight sets, even though they were missing key players such as Zaitsev and Juantorena. They lost to Poland and the United States, but finished the Fukuoka round with 3 wins and 2 losses, and then defeated strong opponents Russia and Iran 3-1 each. And the highlight was the match against Brazil. Although they lost 1-3, the game was always tense except for the third set. I didn't expect to see them playing such a "normal" game against Brazil, who had almost their best members. Nishida's service ace festival in the final match against Canada was so amazing that I was left speechless. Anyway, the Japanese men's volleyball team was the coolest there.
There is no doubt that the strengthening of the serve and the growth of the middle blockers are the major factors in this breakthrough. I was especially happy with the growth of the middle blockers. Onodera's persistent lead blocks and Takahashi's high quicks were unbearable. Before the tournament, I thought that we would probably lose in the preliminaries for the Tokyo Olympics, and I was going to do my best for the Paris Olympics, but maybe we could make it to the top eight, or even the top four?! Depending on how well we grow in the future, this team could make such dreams come true.
Go Japan!
Photo: FIVB
English 
Japanese