Tokyo 2020: what happened on Day 3 of Pool Stage?

In first matches of Day 3 of Pool Stage, an unrecognizable Iran falls to Canada, who beat them in straight sets in a one-way Pool A’s match.
Coming into the duel, Canada had lost both matches so far in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics volleyball tournament, while its rival had quite the opposite record.
However, the North Americans destroyed the Asian side, keeping their quarterfinal hopes alive. 3-0 is the final result, partially it was 25:16, 25:20, 25:22. Not only that this win brings the Canadians back fully in the running for placement in the top 4 in the pool but it also complicates the life of some other teams, like Italy. Canada was led by John Gordon Perrin, author of 16 points, and Lucas Van Berkel who added 4 winning blocks.
Amir Ghafour scored 13 points for Iran, while Milad Ebadipour served 5 aces and made 85.7% reception (25/28; 1 error).

In Pool B, the United States didn’t show at 100% their superiority against Tunisia, the lowest-ranked team in Tokyo across all pools. The African side sensed it got a chance to play on leveled grounds with the team above it in quality and came one step away from the tie-break.
Today a great attack performance by Torey DeFalco, top scorer of the match with 24 points, and in defens by Erik Shoji, with 86.7% reception and 13/15, helped the winners to reach a 2-1 record.

On the same Pool, Argentina achieved a huge win in a very intense match. The South Americans earned a huge 3-2 victory against France and returned to the battle for the quarterfinals. Partially it was 23:25, 25:17, 25:20, 15:25, and 15:13.
Thanks to a great team performance, the squad commanded by Marcelo Méndez got itself a chance of qualifying to the elimination phase for which it will need to down Tunisia on Friday.
Now, the situation gets complicated for France as it conceded the second defeat in the event. To hope to play in the quarterfinals, they will have to win at least one of its last two matches in Pool B, against the Russian Olympic Committee and Brazil.
And both are medal contenders.
France could have easily lost in four instead of five sets if its head coach Laurent Tillie hasn’t made the setter change in the fourth set, sending Benjamin Toniutti on the field instead of Antoine Brizard. Bruno Lima top-scored Argentina with 18 points, while Cristian Poglajen made 80% reception (16/20).
A duo Trévor Clévenot and Jean Patry stood out for the losing side with 24 and 22 points, respectively.

Back to Pool A, Nobody expected that Venezuela would win one set against Poland. However, the South American side took advantage of the fact that the head coach of its rival, Vital Heynen, gave the chance to several backups from the start of the match.
For the first time in three matches, Poland’s captain Michał Kubiak, who is struggling with a back injury, was included in the game, and from the start.
Heynen had to send Bartosz Kurek into the game in the third set because Venezuela gained the huge lead and ultimately won the set. The Belgian expert no longer wanted to risk and left Kurek on the court for the rest of the match, which resulted in taking the fourth set and the victory. Kamil Semeniuk top-scored the winners with 24 points, including as many as 6 aces, while Ronald Fayola made 13 points for the still winless Venezuela.

The victory against Japan in Pool A brought back lot of smiles to the faces of the Italian players after a defeat against Poland. The winners took the second victory in its Olympic Games campaign, now at the expense of the host who staged a notable comeback in the third set and prevented Italy to take a quick and easy win.
Even though still sore from the muscle strain, setter Simone Giannelli commanded Italy’s attacks on the court today. Osmany Juantorena closed the match as the top scorer on the winning side with 22 points, while Simone Anzani set up 5 blocks. Yuki Ishikawa put down 22 points for Japan.

Brazil was an easy victim for the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) at the closing of this Day 3.
ROC remained the only undefeated national team, not only in Pool B but at the entire 2020 Tokyo Olympics volleyball tournament! Brazil, on the other hand, lost its first match. Even though they can’t wear a name, flag, or anything that reminds them of their nation, the red jersey is enough for the players of the ROC to play their games. And, against the reigning Olympic champions, it was surprisingly easy: 3-0 is the final result, partially it was 25:22, 25:20, and 25:20.
The Russians made little mistakes and put pressure on Brazil all the time, with Renan Dal Zotto’s team having a hard time getting out of these moments. Dmitriy Volkov the top scorer among the winners with 19 points, including 4 blocks, the same as Ivan Iakovlev. As for Brazil, it had no player in double digits in scoring.

| Complete Schedule for men’s volleyball tournament:

Pool A: Japan, Poland, Italy, Canada, Iran, and Venezuela.
Pool B: Brazil, USA, Russia, Argentina, France, and Tunisia.

| July 25 – Day 1
Italy – Canada 3-2 (26:28, 18:25, 25:21, 25:18, 15:11)
Brazil – Tunisia 3-0 (25:22 25:20 25:15)
Russia – Argentina 3-1 (21:25 25:23 25:17 25:21)
Japan – Venezuela 3-0 (25:21 25:20 25:15)
Poland – Iran 2-3 (25:18, 22:25, 22:25, 25:22, 21:23)
USA – France 3-0 (25:18, 25:18, 25:22)

| July 27 – Day 2
Iran – Venezuela 3-0 (25:17, 25:20, 25:18)
USA – ROC 1-3 (23:25, 25:27, 25:21, 23:25)
Poland – Italy 3-0 (25:20, 26:24, 25:20)
France – Tunisia 3-0 (25:21, 25:11, 25:21)
Japan – Canada 3-1 (23:25, 25:23, 25:23, 25:20)
Brazil – Argentina 3-2 (19:25, 21:25, 25:16, 25:21, 16:14)

👉🏼 July 29 – Day 3
Canada – Iran 3-0 (25:16, 25:20, 25:22)
USA – Tunisia 3-1 (25:14 23:25 26:14 25:23)
Argentina – France 3-2 (23:25, 25:17, 25:20, 15:25, 15:13)
Poland – Venezuela 3-1 (25:16, 25:13, 18:25, 25:15)
Japan – Italy 1-3 (20:25, 17:25, 25:23, 21:25)
Brazil – ROC 0-3 (22:25, 20:25, 20:25)

| July 31 – Day 4
Canada – Venezuela 3-0 (25:13, 25:22, 25:12)
Brazil – USA 3-1 (30:32, 25:23, 25:21, 25:20)
Japan – Poland 0-3 (22:25, 21:25, 24:26)
Argentina – Tunisia 3-2 (23:25, 23:25, 25:19, 25:18, 15:8)
Italy – Iran 3-1 (30:28, 25:22, 21:25, 25:21)
ROC – France 1-3 (21:25, 25:20, 17:25, 20:25)

| August 2 – Day 5
Poland – Canada 3-0 (25:15, 25:21, 25:16)
Brazil – France 3-2 (25:22, 37:39, 25:17, 21:25, 20:18)
ROC – Tunisia 3-0 (25:20, 25:22, 25:16)
Italy – Venezuela 3-0 (25:22, 25:15, 25:17)
Japan – Iran 3-2 (25:21, 20:25, 29:31, 25:22, 15:13)
USA – Argentina 0-3 (21:25, 23:25, 23:25)

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| QUARTERFINALS – August 3:
• Canada (4a) – ROC (1b) 0-3 (21:25, 28:30, 22:25)
• Japan (3a) – Brazil (2b) 0-3 (20:25, 22:25, 20:25)
• Italy (2a) – Argentina (3b) 2-3 (25:21, 23:25, 22:25, 25:14, 12:15)
• Poland (1a) – France (4b) 2-3 (25:21, 22:25, 25:21, 21:25, 9:15)

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| SEMIFINALS – August 5, 2021:

• Brazil – ROC 1-3 (25:18, 21:25, 24:26, 23:25)
• France – Argentina 3-0 (25:22, 25:19, 25:22)

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August 7: FINALS
• Bronze Medal Match: Argentina – Brazil 3-2 (25:23, 20:25, 20:25, 25:17 15:13)
• Gold Medal Match: France – Russian Olympic Committee 3-2 (25:23, 25:17, 21:25, 21:25, 15:12)

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