VNL 2026: last week starts in Osaka – Argentina make a comeback to beat Canada, first win for Cuba and Japan keep unbeaten record intact!

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Article wrote by Danilo from Osaka for Volleytimes, please respect his job.

The third (and last) competition week of the Preliminary Phase in the Volleyball Nations League 2026 starts today with three cities across the world – Osaka in Japan, Belgrade in Serbia and Chicago in the United States – hosting a total of 36 matches, which will finalize the standings as well as the top seven teams to the quarterfinals in Nigbo along with hosts China.
Each of the 18 participating teams will play another four games this week, while the match schedule in each of the three pools features three games on Wednesday, two each on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and another three on Sunday.

The day started with Argentina who pulled off a stunning reverse sweep over Canada in a crucial battle for VNL survival. With the victory, they improves to 3–6, boosting their hopes of avoiding relegation.
Argentina achieved a dramatic 2-3 (26:24, 25:22, 23:25, 13:25, 17:19) success after Canada won the first two sets and seemed close to victory after leading 13:10 in the third set, but the South Americans changed the course of the match. Argentina clinched the third set, dominated decisively in the fourth, and reached a tie-break.
The Canadians can mostly regret the missed opportunity at 14:13 in the decisive set when they had a match point. However, Argentina survived again, with Manuel Armoa Morel who closed the match with an ace.
Both teams have 9 points in the standings, but the Argentinians have better statistics.
Canada finished with more attack points, 66 against 63, while Argentina had an advantage in blocks, 10 to 7.
Both teams recorded 7 aces each.
Luciano Vicentin led the charge with 20 points to his name, and Armoa himself added 16. For Canada, Skyler Varga scored 20 points, and Xander Ketrzynski left the court with 18.
Not a good news for Canada, which drops to 1–8 and is now in serious danger of relegation as the fight to stay in the Volleyball Nations League intensifies.

In fact, Cuba claims a crucial first win in the battle for survival, securing a vital victory in fight against relegation, sweeping Belgium in straight sets to earn its first win of the competition to improve to 1–8 too, 0-3 (23:25, 19:25, 20:25).
Meanwhile, Belgium drops to 3–6, adding more pressure in the race to avoid relegation.

Cuba recorded their first victory in this year’s edition of the Volleyball Nations League, after convincingly defeating Belgium 3:0 (25:23, 25:19,25:20) in the first match of the third week in Osaka.
The success allowed the Cubans to move away from last place, sitting now 17th in the temporary standings with 1 win and 5 points, having overtaken the hosts of the final tournament, China, which also has 1 win and 4 points that will open their participation in Chicago against the USA.
The victory is even more valuable as Cuba was without one of their key middle blockers, Javier Concepcion, who suffered a severe double fracture of his left lower leg (tibia and fibula) upon landing after an attack during the match against Iran in the second week of the tournament in Orlèans. The national team player underwent surgery a day later and will be out of play for an extended period.
Belgium, which is also playing with a rejuvenated squad and without several key players, only offered resistance in the first set, recovering from a significant deficit to 21:21, but Cuba remained calm in the decisive rallies. After that, coach Jesus Angel Cruz Lopez’s boys dominated the second and third sets, capitalizing on their significantly better serve and block play.
Miguel Ángel Lopez was the top scorer for the winners with 15 points, while Marlon Yant added 14. For Belgium, Ferre Reggers scored 17 points, and Simon Plaskie finished with 11.
The statistics clearly show Cuba’s superiority, recording an impressive 11 blocks against only 3 for their opponent, and scored 8 aces against 4.

In last game of the day, Japan remain undefeated after an exciting 3-2 (24:26, 25:19, 25:20, 23:25, 15:12) win over Italy to continue their winning streak, recording their ninth success in as many matches. Laurent Tillie’s team demonstrated excellent play in attack and on serve, with Ran Takahashi and Yuki Ishikawa leading the hosts to another sensational victory, the fourth one at tie-break. With this victory, Japan has practically secured their ticket to the finals in China.
Italy started strong and snatched the first set after a hard-fought battle, but in the next two sets, they experienced serious difficulties against the aggressive serving and fast combinations of the rivals well orchestred by setter Hidemori Fukatsu.
In the fourth set, coach Ferdinando De Giorgi changed the lineup, bringing in Luca Porro, Pardo Mati, and libero Gabriele Laurenzano. The substitutions paid off, as Italy stabilized their reception, improved their blocking game, and equalized the score, forcing the match into a decisive tie-break, in which the Japanese again showed stronger nerves. They made a decisive break in the middle of the set and did not allow the opponents to make a comeback, closing the match at 15:12.
After the victory, Japan remains the sole leader in the temporary VL standings with 9 wins, 22 points, and an impressive set ratio of 27:13, while Italy remains with 5 wins and 17 points, occupying fifth place, but already with nine games played.
This leaves them in an extremely competitive battle with Ukraine (5 wins, 16 points), Turkey (5 wins, 14 points), and Bulgaria (5 wins, 14 points), who each have one less match played and can overtake them on the first day of the third week.
Outside hitter Ran Takahashi led the charge with a match-high 26 points to his name including the match winner, two aces and 1 block, well supporter by opposite Yuji Nishida who scored 20 points through 66% success rate in attack and experienced outside and captain Yuki Ishikawa who tallied another 17 points, including two aces. He got to within three kills of an important career milestone – 1,000 attack points in the VNL!

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🏐| FIVB Volleyball Nations League 2026 | Games of the day

— Wednesday | July 15, 2026—

👉🏼 Pool 9 – Week 3 – Osaka 🇯🇵
• 12.00 (Local Time) | Canada – Argentina 2-3 (26:24, 25:22, 23:25, 13:25, 17:19)
• 15.30 (Local Time) | Belgium – Cuba 0-3 (23:25, 19:25, 20:25)
• 19.20 (Local Time) | Japan – Italy 3-2 (24:26, 25:19, 25:20, 23:25, 15:12)

| Pool 7 – Week 3 – Belgrade 🇷🇸
• 13.00 (Local Time) | Germany – Slovenia 1-3 (17:25, 17:25, 25:23, 26:28)
• 16.30 (Local Time) | Ukraine – Iran 3-1 (25:22, 25:21, 29:31, 25:19)
• 20.00 (Local Time) | Serbia – Türkiye 0-3 (23:25, 19:25, 18:25)

| Pool 8 – Week 3 – Chicago 🇺🇸
• 12.00 (Local Time) | Bulgaria – Poland 0-3 (19:25, 17:25, 17:25)
• 16.00 (Local Time) | France – Brazil 0-3 (23:25, 23:25, 19:25)
• 20.00 (Local Time) | USA – China 3-0 (25:19, 25:23, 25:20)

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🏐| STANDINGS (updated on this day)
1. Japan 22
2. USA 22
3. Poland 20
4. Ukraine 19
5. Slovenia 17
6. Türkiye 17
7. Italy 17
8. Brazil 16
9. Bulgaria 14
10. Germany 12
11. Serbia 12
12. France 10
13. Argentina 9
14. Belgium 9
15. Iran 9
16. Canada 9
17. Cuba 5
18. China 4

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🏐| NEXT GAMES

— Thursday | July 16, 2026—

| Pool 9 – Week 3 – Osaka 🇯🇵
• 15.30 (Local Time) | Belgium – Italy
• 19.20 (Local Time) | Japan – Canada

| Pool 7 – Week 3 – Belgrade 🇷🇸
• 16.30 (Local Time) | Iran – Germany
• 20.00 (Local Time) | Serbia – Ukraine

| Pool 8 – Week 3 – Chicago 🇺🇸
• 16.00 (Local Time) | China – France
• 20.00 (Local Time) | USA – Brazil

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