Pool B
Brazil
World ranking #1
#1 Bruno Rezende (C) S 34/ 190/ 323 Modena (Italy)
#5 Mauricio Borges OH 32/ 199/ 335 Vibo Valentia (Italy)
#6 Ferdinand Kreling S 25/ 185/ 319 Sada Cruzeiro
#8 Wallace de Souza OP 33/ 198/ 344 Sada Cruzeiro
#9 Yolandi Leal OH 32/ 202/ 361 Modena (Italy)
12 Isaac Santos MB 30/ 208/ 339 Sada Cruzeiro
13 Mauricio Souza MB 32/ 209/ 344 Minas
14 Douglas De Souza OH 25/ 199/ 338 Vibo Valentia (Italy)
16 Lukas Saatkamp MB 35/ 209/ 340 Volei Renata
17 Thales Ossu L 31/ 190/ 320 Taubate
18 Lucarelli Souza OH 29/ 196/ 348 Civitanova (Italy)
21 Alan Souza OP 27/ 202/ 336 Kemerovo (Russia)
Directed by: Renan Dalzotto
This is the 15th consecutive tournament. They are the absolute champions, having won the previous tournament. They have advanced to the finals in all four previous tournaments. The 21st century men's volleyball is truly Brazil's era to this day. They won the VNL2021 and have no blind spots in the Tokyo Olympics. Captain Bruno will be participating in four consecutive tournaments this time. At 34 years old, he is in the prime of his prime as a setter. In addition, more than half of the members are veteran players over 30 years old. They are aiming for a sure consecutive victory. However, personally, I would like to see the dawn of a new era soon. Will a team emerge that will stop Brazil from reaching the finals?
Tunisia
World ranking: 16th
#2 Ahmed Kadi MB/ 32/ 199/ 345 Tunis
#3 Khaled Benslimene S/ 27/ 196/ - Tunis
#6 Mohamed Ben Ommeton OH/ 30/ 188/ 315 Tunis
#7 Elias Karamosuri OH/ 31/ 198/ 330 Sfax
#9 Omar Aghrebi MB/ 28/ 205/ 325 Sfax
10 Hamza Naga OP/ 31/ 191/ 335 Tunis
11 Ismail Moala OH/ 32/ 195/ 324 -
12 Mahdi Bensheik (C) S/ 42/ 183/ 318 Tunis
13 Semir Mourebaki MB/ 25/ 198/ 320 Tunis
15 Wassim Bentala OP/ 24/ 204/ 365 Nysa (Poland)
19 Aymen Bougera OH/ 19/ 198/ - Narbonne (France)
20 Sadem Humisi L/ 30/ 186/ 312 Tunis
Director: Antonio Giacoppe (Italy)
This is the seventh time in two tournaments. In recent years, Tunisia has overtaken Egypt to become the number one team in Africa. In the 2019 World Cup, opposite Naga was the main source of points, but it seems that the next generation of aces such as Bentala, who plays in Poland, and Bougela, who plays in France, are also developing. All of the opponents for the Tunisian national team are superior, so they will want to grab a win first.
Russia
World ranking: 3rd
#1 Jaroslav Podlesnik OH/ 26/ 198/ 341 Moscow
#4 Artem Volvich MB/ 31/ 212/ 352 Kazan
#7 Dmitry Volkov OH/ 26/ 201/ 340 Kazan
#9 Ivan Yakovlev MB/ 26/ 207/ 357 St. Petersburg
10 Denis Bogdan OH/ 24/ 200/ 350 Novy Urengoy
11 Pawel Pankov S/ 25/ 198/ 345 Moscow
15 Viktor Poletaev OP/ 25/ 197/ 360 St. Petersburg
17 Maxim Mikhailov OP/ 32/ 202/ 345 Kazan
18 Igor Kliuka OH/ 25/ 209/ 360 St. Petersburg
20 Ilyas Kurukayev MB/ 27/ 207/ 355 Novo-Sibersk
24 Igor Kobzal (C) S/ 30/ 198/ 337 St. Petersburg
27 Valentin Golubev L/ 29/ 190/ 310 Kazan
Director: Tomas Samuelvo (Finland)
This is the 14th time in a row that Russia has participated in. They are a strong team that has been in the top four or better in all Olympic Games except for the 1992 tournament, which was held shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and has won four gold medals. However, Muserskiy, who has supported the Russian national team in recent years and was a key player in the victory at the London Olympics, was not included in the team for this tournament due to injury. At the last Rio Olympics, without Muserskiy, they missed out on a medal for the first time in four tournaments, but what about this time? They seem to be lacking in brilliance and have a lot of concerns, such as losing to Japan, who are almost a B team, at the recent VNL. However, Russia is strong in the real world. With their absolute ace Mikhailov at the center, they will surely be polishing their team for the Tokyo Olympics.
Argentina
World ranking: 8th
#1 Mathias Sanchez S/ 24/ 173/ 306 Tourcoing (France)
#2 Federico Pereira OP/ 32/ 200/ 335 Al-Ahli (Libya)
#6 Christian Poglahen OH/ 31/ 195/ 342 Poitiers (France)
#7 Facundo Conte OH/ 31/ 197/ 354 Sabiercie (Poland)
#8 Agustin Rosell MB/ 23/ 193/ 335 Tourcoing (France)
#9 Santiago Danani L/ 25/ 176/ 324 Berlin (Germany)
11 Sebastian Sole MB/ 29/ 200/ 362 Perugia (Italy)
12 Bruno Lima OP/ 25/ 198/ 345 Nice (France)
13 Ezequiel Palacios OH/ 28/ 198/ 345 Montpellier (France)
15 Luciano Dececco S/ 32/ 191/ 332 Civitanova (Italy)
17 Nicolas Mendes OH/ 28/ 191/ 340 Paris (France)
18 Martin Ramos MB/ 29/ 197/ 348 Narbonne (France)
Directed by: Marcelo Mendes
This is their 8th time in 3 consecutive tournaments. They have made it to the quarterfinals in both of the past two tournaments, but this one looks like it will be very tough. There are only 2 players over 2 meters tall, so their height is not that different from Japan, but it will be interesting to see how far they can go with their speed volleyball, led by 32-year-old genius setter Dececco, who has experience in the top league. Sanchez, the men's version of the "world's strongest and smallest setter," will also be making his Olympic debut. Also, for some reason, there are more Argentine players playing for France than for the French national team (lol).
America
FIVB World Ranking: 5th
#1 Matthew Anderson OP, OH/ 34/ 202/ 360 Perugia (Italy)
#3 Taylor Sander OH/ 29/ 196/ 345 Belchatow (Poland)
#5 Kyle Ensing OP/ 24/ 201/ 366 Tel Aviv (Israel)
#6 Mitchell Staal MB/ 26/ 203/ 350 Nysa (Poland)
#7 Kawika Shoji (C) S/ 33/ 190/ 331 Ankara (Türkiye)
#8 Tory Defalco OH/ 24/ 198/ 340 Olsztyn (Poland)
11 Micah Christenson S/ 28/ 198/ 349 Kazan (Russia)
12 Maxwell Holt MB/ 34/ 205/ 351 Piacenza (Italy)
17 Thomas Jeske OH/ 27/ 198/ 348 Milan (Italy)
18 Garrett Muagtucia OH/ 33/ 205/ 359 Zawiercie (Poland)
20 David Smith MB/ 36/ 201/ 348 Kedzierzynkozyre (Poland)
22 Eric Shoji L/ 31/ 184/ 330 Kedzierzynkozyre (Poland)
Director: John Sparrow
This is the 12th time in 10 consecutive tournaments. Although the ace Thunder has returned from injury, the other outside player Russell did not recover in time, and the Tokyo Olympics will be without one of the key players from the Rio Olympics bronze medal. However, the growth of young players such as Ensing and Defalco has been remarkable, and we can expect them to achieve better results than last time. This is the 3rd Olympics for 34-year-old ace Anderson. Given his age, I think this will probably be his last Olympics. Let's watch his heroic performance.
France
World ranking: 4th
#1 Valtelemei Cigniese MB 23/ 201/ 357 Milan (Italy)
#2 Zhenya Grubenikov L 30/ 188/ 345 St. Petersburg (Russia)
#4 Jean Patry OP 24/ 207/ 357 Milan (Italy)
#6 Benjamin Toniutti S 31/ 183/ 320 Jastrzebski Wengier (Poland)
#7 Kevin Tilley OH 30/ 200/ 345 Tours
#9 Erwin Nugapet OH 30/ 194/ 358 Modena (Italy)
11 Antoine Brizard S 27/ 196/ 340 Piacenza (Italy)
12 Stephane Boyer OP 25/ 196/ 355 Jastrzebski Wengier (Poland)
14 Nicolas Lugoff MB 29/ 206/ 365 Montpellier
16 Dali Brutor MB 25/ 197/ 352 Tourcoing
17 Trevor Klevenot OH 26/ 199/ 345 Zirat Bankasi Ankara (Türkiye)
19 Yasin Luloti OH 29/ 198/ 345 Fenerbahce (Türkiye)
Directed by: Laurent Thiry
This is the fifth time in two consecutive tournaments. They won a brilliant bronze medal at the recent VNL2021 and are considered one of the favorites to win the Tokyo Olympics. However, they were also a favorite to win the last Rio Olympics, but were unexpectedly eliminated in the preliminaries. Seven members, including the coach, know that disappointment and remain in this tournament. They will not make the same mistake. They would like to gain momentum here before the next Paris Olympics, which will be held in their home country. We are looking forward to seeing the culmination of "Team Yabou", led by coach Laurent Tille, who was the center of attention in the men's volleyball world in the 2010s, at Ariake Arena.
Photo: FIVB
English 
Japanese