So far, each team has played a total of eight games over two weeks in the men's Volleyball Nations League. In this article, I'll give a brief review of the tournament so far and introduce my top seven picks.
Qualifying Round Standings (As of the end of Week 2)
1 Brazil 7 wins, 1 loss, 20 points, 23/8 sets
2 Poland 6 wins, 2 losses, 18 points, 21/10 sets
3 Italy 6 wins, 2 losses, 17 points, 21/12 sets
4 Japan 5 wins, 3 losses, 15 points, 18/11 sets
5 France 5 wins, 3 losses, 15 points, 19/12 sets
6 Ukraine 5 wins, 3 losses, 15 points, 19/14 sets
7 Argentina 5 wins, 3 losses, 13 points, 17/15 sets
8 Germany 4 wins, 4 losses, 15 points, 19/16 sets
9 Cuba 4 wins, 4 losses, 13 points, 18/17 sets
10 Iran 4 wins, 4 losses, 12 points, 17/18 sets
11 Bulgaria 4 wins, 4 losses, 11 points, 14/15 sets
12 Slovenia 4 wins, 4 losses, 11 points, 13/16 sets
13 USA 4 wins, 4 losses, 10 points, 13/17 sets
14 Canada 3 wins, 5 losses, 11 points, 15/17 sets
15 China 2 wins, 6 losses, 7 points, 8/19 sets
16 Türkiye 2 wins, 6 losses, 6 points, 8/18 sets
17 Netherlands 1 win 7 losses 4 points 9/22 set
18 Serbia 1 win, 7 losses, 3P, 7/22 sets
Brazil in sole lead but the race is in full swing
As of the end of the second week, Brazil is in sole first place with 7 wins and 1 loss.
Brazil lost several players, including long-time setter Bruno, who had retired from the national team. In addition, veteran Lucarelli, who also plays in Japan, was absent, but the team continued to win games, led by setter Fernando.
Following Brazil are Poland and Italy with six wins and two losses each.
However, below them there are four teams with five wins and three losses, including Japan, and six teams with four wins and four losses, meaning that the 10 teams are in a tightly contested position.
In the first place, there are no teams in the men's tournament that have won all their games or lost all their games, and the only team that first-place Brazil has lost to is Cuba, currently ranked ninth, and their losses to Ukraine, ranked sixth, were also played in full sets.
In other words, the current men's volleyball scene is a close race.
To advance to the final round, Japan will need to finish in the top seven, excluding host country China, but it is possible that Brazil, currently in first place, could lose four games in a row in the remaining four qualifying round matches and be eliminated.
Each team has different ways of using players, but the strongest countries are the strongest in the end.
The way players have been used so far has varied from team to team.
Some teams, like Italy, already have almost the same members as they did at last year's Paris Olympics, while others, like Japan, are competing mainly with players who were reserve players at the Paris Olympics.
Furthermore, there are countries like Poland that are fighting with mostly members who were not even on the bench at the Paris Olympics (I think the depth of Poland's player pool is truly abnormal).
However, regardless of how many of last year's main players are included, countries that were ranked high in the world before the tournament are generally maintaining their good results in this tournament.
An exception is Ukraine, which was ranked 14th in the world before the tournament, but did quite well, coming in 6th in the qualifiers. On the other hand, the United States, which was ranked 3rd in the world before the tournament, is struggling with a team mainly made up of young players, coming in 13th in the qualifiers.
However, there is no doubt that each team is bringing in new talent and young players.
From the third week onwards, many teams, including Japan, are expected to field more of their main players, so the rankings could change significantly from now on.
And no matter what position a team places in, as long as they make it to the final round, they have a good chance of winning.
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