In the Paris Olympic qualifying pool C, the Japanese men's national team played against Argentina on Wednesday, July 31st (local time) and won 3-1 (25-16, 25-22, 18-25, 25-23).
Starting members
Positions: OH = Outside Hitter, MB = Middle Blocker, OP = Opposite, S = Setter, L = Libero
() is the score
Japan
OH: Ai Takahashi (14), Ishikawa (11)
MB: Onodera (12), Yamauchi (6)
OP: Nishida (21)
S: Sekita (1)
L: Yamamoto
Substitutes: OP Miyaura (4), OH Otsuka (1), OH Kai (1), MB Takahashi Kentaro
Argentina
OH: Conte (19), Palonski (4)
MB: Rosell (7), Zerba (2)
OP: Lima (16)
S: Dececco (4)
L: Danani
Substitutes: OH Martínez (5), MB Ramos (4), OP Kukartsev (1), S Sánchez, OH Visentín
Match Report
Set 1
In the early stages, both teams scored consecutive points, and the match progressed to 9-9, with OP Nishida's spikes and service aces and Argentina's OH Palonski. From there, OP Nishida's consecutive service aces and spikes put Japan ahead at 14-10, and in the final stages, OP Nishida scored two consecutive service aces to pull away from Argentina at 22-15. Finally, OH Takahashi Ai's second service ace made it 25-16 and Japan took the set.
Set 2
In the early stages, Argentina took a 0-3 lead with a service ace from MB Zerba, and then OH Takahashi Ai and others were caught by Argentina's blocks one after another, widening the gap to 1-7. From there, they fought for side-outs, but in the middle of the game, OP Nishida's spike error caused the score to widen again to 8-15. However, after turning around from S Sekita's serve, OH Ishikawa and others scored spikes, and with four consecutive breaks, Japan quickly narrowed the gap to 14-16, and then MB Onodera's spike and the opponent's mistake also helped Japan tie the score at 20-20. Furthermore, a red card was issued for Argentina's persistent protests over the video review result, and Japan took the lead at 21-20. Finally, OH Ishikawa continued to attack and scored to win the set 25-22.
Third set
From the beginning, Argentina scored points with blocks and spikes from OH Conte, spikes and service aces from OP Lima, and took the lead at 5-8. Japan broke with an attack from OP Nishida to close the gap at 7-8, but service aces from S De Cecco and MB Rosell put them back at 12-15. Argentina then scored consecutive points with two attacks from S De Cecco, widening their lead to 13-19. Japan replaced OH Ishikawa with OH Otsuka and OP Nishida with OP Miyaura, but in the end, OP Lima's spike made it 18-25 and Argentina took the set.
Fourth set
In the early stages, Argentina took a 3-5 lead thanks to a block by MB Rosell, but Japan turned the game around with a 9-7 lead thanks to a block by OH Ishikawa and a spike by OP Nishida. After that, Argentina caught up with 13-13 thanks to a spike by OH Conte, but Japan took the lead at 18-14 thanks to a block by MB Onodera and a service ace by OH Takahashi Ai. From there, Argentina closed the gap to just one point at 20-19 thanks to points from OP Kukartsev and others who replaced them, but Japan widened the gap to 23-20 thanks to attacks from OP Miyaura, who entered the game as a substitute. Argentina closed the gap again to 24-23 thanks to a spike by OP Lima, but Japan won the set with a final score of 25-23 thanks to another score from OP Miyaura.
As a result, Japan won against Argentina 3-1.
TOSHIKI'S MVP
Japan: MB Onodera Futoshi
12 points (including 1 block), attack efficiency rate 84.621 TP3T
Despite being a middle blocker, he scored double digits. Although each of the three side attackers had a tough time, he produced a large number of quick points with amazing decisiveness, cutting through the Argentine court. Although he only scored one point as a blocker, he was particularly good at suppressing Argentina's specialty middle attacks.
In this match, MB Yamauchi's spiking and blocking were both excellent, and S Sekita was also impressive, being proactive and continuing to toss the ball with excellent timing.
Argentina: OH Facundo Conte
19 points (1 serve, 1 block), attack efficiency rate 44.121 TP 3T
A veteran outside hitter who led the team with his fierce play even when the team's condition was not improving. He was really on fire in a good way from about the middle of the second set, and his spikes and serves were a threat to Japan until the end. That's why his eyes filled with tears after the match made me think about a lot of things.
Commentary
Despite struggling, Japan managed to beat Argentina 3-1 and earn three valuable points.
Personally, I think the main reasons for this victory were 1) aggressive serves, 2) a lot of quick points, and 3) tenacious blocks. I will explain them in order.
① Aggressive serve
First of all, the serve was working well.
In particular, in the first set, OP Nishida had 5 service aces and OH Takahashi Ai had 2, totaling 7 aces, and dominated the match. This set was almost entirely won by serve.
In the next set, it was S. Sekita's serve that started the comeback, and he was able to successfully force OH Palonski, who was the target of the serve, to the bench.
In the third set, Argentina took the set with substitute OH Martinez stabilizing serve reception, but in the fourth set, Argentina was able to grab a break chance by concentrating serves as much as possible on OH Conte and reducing his success rate.
The service ace that OH Takahashi Ai scored in the fourth set was a very clever serve that could have thwarted OH Conte's pipe attack even if it had been touched.
②Many quick points
In the commentary on the previous match against Germany, it was pointed out that Japan's quick attacks resulted in few goals and a low success rate, but this has been improved remarkably, and in this match the quick attacks by MB Onodera and MB Yamauchi were prominent throughout.
MB Onodera scored 11 points with an effective rate of 84.621 TP3T. In terms of attack scores alone, he was the second highest on the team, surpassing OH Ishikawa and OH Takahashi. MB Yamauchi also scored 6 points with an effective rate of 54.551 TP3T, which was an excellent number.
Argentina's middle blockers were all talented players with excellent blocking ability, so it's truly amazing that they were able to achieve these numbers despite that.
Also commendable was the aggressive tossing work of S. Sekita, which he continued to use actively not only in side-out situations but also during rallies.
If I could be greedy, I would have liked to have more effective mid-range attacks, which would have increased the effectiveness of side attacks, but it is strong to be able to score with mid-range attacks even when the side attackers are not in good form.
It is hard to remember Japan being so supported by quick goals up to this point, so it is fair to say that Japan has once again gained a powerful weapon.
3. Sticky block
Japan's defense has always had good floor defense, centered around L Yamamoto, but in this game Japan's blocking was also very good.
Although Japan scored fewer blocks (5 compared to Argentina's 8), Japan had a much higher number of block touches (38 compared to Argentina's 29).
In particular, MB Yamauchi and MB Onodera were able to get a good touch against Argentina's quick plays.
Argentina's MB Rosell normally has a very high quick success rate and it is rare for him not to score double digits, but in this game he only scored three points in attack, with an attack efficiency rate of 101 TP3T.
In particular, MB Yamauchi made 12 block touches by himself, and there were many occasions when his touches saved the game.
It was also very important that OH Ishikawa and OH Takahashi Ai were able to block OP Lima several times in the fourth set.
Conclusion: Japan's midfielders were amazing
That's all there is to it.
The first set was served by OP Nishida, but from then on I think the match was really decided thanks to the performance of the middle blockers.
To be honest, I used to think that Japan's middle-school players were not that great compared to the rest of the world, but they have grown tremendously, and now their true worth has been shown.
The quick is powerful and the blocks are tenacious.
Japan is not just good at playing on the wing, but they can also play in a way that makes the middle part of the game shine. And they are doing it at the Olympic stadium, the highest level in the world.
Of course, I think a lot of it was down to setter Sekita's tosses, but the performance of the middle blockers that day was truly amazing.
However, I am a bit concerned about OH Ishikawa and OH Takahashi, whose attack numbers were not stable throughout the match, following the Germany match. I would like to see these two perform better in the next match against the United States.
Pool C standings (as of July 31st)
1st Place: USA★ 2 wins 5 points
2nd place Japan 1 win 4 points
3rd place Germany 1 win 3 points
4th Argentina 0 wins 0 points
★Quarterfinal advancement confirmed
Next race information
Qualifying Pool C vs USA
Saturday, August 3rd, 4:00am (Japan time)
tv set
NHK General TV: 3:50~ (Educational TV: 6:00~)
Online distribution
NHK Plus
[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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