⑨ vs. Argentina ● 1-3 (32-30, 16-25, 18-25, 21-25)
Photo by FIVB
First set starting lineup (serving order)
Japan
OH Otsuka, MB Yamauchi, OP Shimizu, OH Fukuzawa, MB Takahashi Kentaro, S Sekita, L Ogawa
Argentina
MB Rosell, S De Cecco, OH Conte, MB Sole, OP Pereira, OH Poglahen, L Massimino
It seemed like they had discussed in the meeting that they would definitely win these three consecutive games, but it turned out to be a disappointing game that left me wondering if they really had the intention to win. Perhaps because there wasn't much free time after the previous day's match against Italy, Japan started this match with mostly reserve members. Meanwhile, Argentina had a full lineup that included D'Ecco and Conte. I honestly thought, "Argentina are underestimating them" (lol). But the start of the match against Russia was similar, so I didn't pay much attention to it at first.
I think the first set was good. Although the opponent's mistakes helped a lot, Japan, without Ishikawa, managed to hang on against the hard-hitting Argentina team, and kept their concentration even at deuce to win 32-30.
However, after the second set, I just couldn't watch it anymore. Japan's two outside players, Otsuka and Fukuzawa, were clearly not in good form. Otsuka had a hard time scoring. Fukuzawa was blocked too many times, and his defense was also broken. In situations like this, you would normally make a substitution. We won the match against Russia because we made substitutions. But strangely, nothing changed. The only substitution with the outside players was that Yamamoto, who is normally a libero, was replaced by Fukuzawa as a relief receiver when playing in the back. But this alone is clearly meaningless. When they play in the front, Fukuzawa comes back and they are shut out again.
Argentina's ace, Conte Photo by FIVB
I was hoping that Takanashi would play, but he was benched. Furthermore, Takahashi Ai was registered as libero in place of Yamamoto. Ishikawa, the only OH on the bench, showed no signs of playing. Something was wrong. In fact, there was not a single outside hitter who could be substituted. The match progressed at Argentina's pace from the second set onwards until the end, as if the first set was a lie, and Argentina won as expected. Of course it was. They kept putting out players who were not in good form.
If they had been able to replace at least Fukuzawa as an outside hitter, they might have had a chance to win, or at least they could have played a better game. I think it was not a bad idea to register Yamamoto as a regular player, since it was just an experiment. I can understand why Takahashi Ai was registered as a libero instead. But why did they bench Takanashi? There were four middle hitters out of 14, but only three outside hitters. Moreover, no matter how badly they were losing, Ishikawa showed no signs of coming on. I think they could have used three middle hitters and put Takanashi in, and if they didn't want to use Ishikawa, they could have benched him instead. Also, if Takanashi had some problems, such as poor physical condition, they shouldn't have made Takahashi Ai the libero. Why did they challenge Argentina with only two outside hitters, Otsuka and Fukuzawa? I can only think of two reasons: they were underestimating Argentina, or they didn't intend to win with all their might.
In any case, it was a very unpleasant game for me to watch. It would be one thing if they had done everything they could to lose, but there is no way they could lose in such a strange way. If they were playing against a truly hopeless opponent like Brazil or Poland, they might have had the option of not trying to win in order to rest their starters, but Argentina is not that kind of opponent. I just hope that we will not see such a game in the future. If anyone knows another reason why this happened, please let me know.
This defeat makes our chances of advancing to the finals, which were already looking tough but had us thinking we might have a chance, look even more hopeless.
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