The match between the Japanese men's volleyball team and Argentina in Pool C of the Paris Olympics will start at 8:00 pm on Wednesday, July 31st (Japan time). This article will introduce the Argentine team and provide an overview and highlights of the match.
Argentina team members
Directed by: Marcelo Mendes
*1 Matias Sanchez S 1996 173cm Suwałki (Poland)
*3 Yann Martinez OH 1998 190cm Tourcoing (France)
*7 Facundo Conte OH 1989 197cm Buenos Aires
*8 Agustin Rosell MB 1997 197cm Perugia (Italy)
*9 Santiago Danani L 1995 176cm Novy Urengoy (Russia)
12 Bruno Lima OP 1996 198cm Renata (Brazil)
15 Luciano Dececco (C) S 1988 191cm Modena (Italy)
16 Pablo Kukartsev OP 1993 203cm Tourcoing (France)
17 Luciano Visentin OH 2000 197cm Jastrzębski Wegiel (Poland)
18. Martin Ramos MB 1991 197cm Club Voleibol Guaguas (Spain)
21 Luciano Palonski OH 1999 198cm Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers
22 Nicolas Selva MB 1999 203cm Nysa (Poland)
Reserve
13 Ezequiel Palacios OH 1992 198cm Montpellier (France)
Recent Matches
Nations League 2024 Qualifying Round (June 5, 2024)
○3-1(24-26, 25-22, 25-23, 25-19)
Nations League 2023 Qualifying Round (June 26, 2023)
○3-2 (25-18, 25-22, 31-33, 22-25, 15-12)
Projected starting lineup
Positions: OH = Outside Hitter, MB = Middle Blocker, OP = Opposite, S = Setter, L = Libero
Japan
OH: Ai Takahashi, Ishikawa
MB: Onodera, Yamauchi
OP: Nishida
S: Sekita
L: Yamamoto
Average height (excluding libero): 190.83cm
Argentina
OH: Conte, Palonsky
MB: Rosell, Zerba
OP: Lima
S: Dececco
L: Danani
Average height (excluding libero): 197.33cm
Characteristics of the Argentine team
① Diverse and fast-paced attacks
Argentina develops attacks at a fast tempo like Japan. In particular, foreign teams tend to have a slow tempo when it comes to pipe attacks, which are back attacks from the center, or tosses to the right for the opposite player, but Argentina provides quick tosses to those areas.
Also, as long as the receiver is near the attack line, the middle blocker can use a quick attack from any position. You have to be careful of the quick attack, and the side and pipe attacks are also fast, so it's troublesome for the blocker.
Another strength of Argentina is that not only starting setter Dececco but also reserve Sanchez can launch such attacks with almost the same quality.
2) Solid defense centered on blocking
Like Japan, Argentina is a team with good defense, but while Japan focuses on digging (spike reception), Argentina's defense is characterized by its focus on blocking.
The middle blockers are particularly skilled, and MB Rosell's blocks are particularly strong. At 197cm tall, he is on the small side for a middle blocker, smaller than the three Japanese players, but he has outstanding physical ability, reading and reaction skills, allowing him to score block points one after another. He is a very troublesome player to have on the field.
3) High level of experience, many members of the Tokyo Olympics bronze medal team remain
Argentina won the bronze medal at the last Tokyo Olympics, and eight of the 13 players selected this time remain on the squad (five of the seven starting players). Whether or not a team has Olympic medal experience could be a deciding factor, especially at a crucial point.
In addition, S. De Cecco and OH Conte are participating in four consecutive Olympic Games and are veteran players who have played for top clubs for many years.
In the match against Germany, they struggled against the veteran duo OP Grozelle and S Campa, so they will need to be careful of the experienced veteran players in the match against Argentina.
Featured Players
S Luciano Dececco
Born in 1988, 191cm, Club: Modena (Italy)
A veteran setter who has long been known as one of the world's top setters.
Compared to players like Italy's Gianelli, he is inferior in terms of height and direct scoring ability such as blocking and serving, but he stands out from the crowd in terms of his technique, which allows him to deliver easy-to-hit tosses at a fast tempo from any position, and his playfulness, which allows him to surprise his opponents.
He has played in the Olympics as the starting setter for four consecutive tournaments since the 2012 London Olympics, and won a bronze medal at the last Tokyo Olympics. He has also played in the world's top Italian Serie A for 14 years as a club player, contributing to the team's title wins on many occasions.
His artistic tossing work is a must-see.
Serve is key to Japan's victory
Against Argentina, it will be important to prevent setter Dececco from launching a variety of attacks, especially from using quick kicks from the center, so the key will be to attack with serves and reduce the opponent's attacking options.
In fact, in their first match against Argentina, the United States hit eight service aces in the three sets and maintained an advantageous position throughout the match.
Argentina has a strong defense against the opponent's attacks, but their serve reception is not as good as France or Germany. However, L. Dhanani has very high ability, so I would like to attack with aggressive serves against the outside hitters OH Conte and OH Palonski who are not playing against him.
OH Martinez, who is good at receiving serves, is on the bench, but he is somewhat weak in attack, so it would be good if they could create a situation where one of the starters could be replaced by OH Martinez.
Japan's serves will be expected to come from OP Nishida and OH Ishikawa.
Even so, they will likely come at us with some high balls, mainly from OP Lima, but L Yamamoto will be able to pick them up and keep the ball going.
On the other hand, Japan's offense will be looking to use quick mid-range shots to cause even the slightest bit of hesitation in their decision-making, as Argentina's MB Rosell and MB Zerva are blocking very well.
Therefore, we will be looking forward to OH Takahashi returning the serves firmly and S Sekita making some bold tosses to MB Onodera and MB Yamauchi.
In the Nations League, they won 3-1 without OH Ishikawa and OH Takahashi, but it will be a completely different game. Of course, I think that the Japanese team, who lost to Germany and have no choice, will not be careless at all.
We want to win at least 3-1 and get the three points.
Japan's Key Person
OP Nishida Yutaka
Born in 2000, 187cm, Affiliation: Osaka Bulleteon (formerly Panasonic)
With serve being the key, Nishida will be the key player in the match against Argentina.
We hope that he will not only produce aces one after another with his powerful serves, but also liven up the team and the crowd with spirited performances, such as fist pumps after scoring, to dispel the unpleasant atmosphere following his first-match loss.
Now is the time for the gorillas to go wild.
Pool C standings (as of July 30th)
*A total of eight teams, including the six teams ranked second or higher in each pool and the top two third-placed teams, will advance to the final tournament.
1st place USA 2 wins, 0 losses, 5 points
2nd place Germany 1 win, 1 loss, 3 points
3rd place Japan 0 wins, 1 loss, 1 point
4th Argentina 0 wins, 1 loss, 0 points
Trivia
Teammates
- Ishikawa and Dhanani (Padua (Italy) 2019/20)
- Ishikawa and Rossell (Milan (Italy) 2022/23-2023/24, Perugia (Italy) 2024/25)
- Miyaura and Zerba (Nysa (Poland) 2022/23)
Related Interviews
Match Information
Match Date and Time
July 31st (Wednesday) 20:00~
How to watch
tv set
NHK General TV: 19:50~ (NHK Educational TV only from 20:55~22:00)
Online distribution
NHK Plus
Japan men's upcoming match schedule
*Times are Japan time
Qualifiers (Pool C)
August 2nd (Fri) 28:00 ~ vs. USA
Final Tournament
Monday, August 5th Time TBD Quarterfinals
Wednesday, August 7th (time TBA) Semi-finals
Friday, August 9th 23:00~ 3rd place deciding match
August 10th (Sat) 20:00~ Finals
[PR] "ALL for DREAM -Footsteps to Glory- Japan Volleyball National Team Nations League 2024" will be available on U-NEXT from July 27th (Sat.)
A documentary program that closely follows the unknown behind-the-scenes of the "Volleyball Nations League 2024" and traces the fierce battles will be streamed on U-NEXT.
[Distribution date and time]
July 27th (Saturday) 5pm Boys #1 Boys #2
August 3rd (Saturday) 5pm Women's #1
Saturday, August 10th 5pm Women's #2
Saturday, August 24th 5pm Men's #3
Saturday, August 31st 5pm Women's #3
September 7th (Saturday) 5pm Men's #4
Saturday, September 14th 5pm Women's #4
(Quoted from TBS TV release)
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Photo: Volleyball World
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