Brazil-Argentina
For the first time in history, Mendoza province served as a World League host, as the local crowd tried to push their guys but in the end Brazil prevailed in straight sets (20-25, 21-25 and 15-25).
Eder Carbonera, Lucarelli and Leandro Vissotto led the scores with 14, 13 and 10 caps respectively, forming a powerful offensive force for the away team. Brazil climbed up to a 3-0 record on Pool A, while Argentina is 1-2.
A long serve by Brazil on the first point showed what the beginning of the match was going to be about: Argentina ceased the opponent’s errors with Castellani’s attacking performance and jumped to an 8-6 lead. Brazil, however, quickly woke up (10-10) and relied on Lucarelli to stretch the advantage to 13-16 at the second timeout. And, in control of the actions, Brazil almost never fails. Vissotto spiked off the local block to carry Brazil on to a 15-20 score and the South American powerhouse kept the 5-points lead until the final spike by Dante, closing the set on 20-25.
An outstanding set by Bruno Rezende for a back-row spike by Lucarelli pushed Brazil to a 4-7 lead that turned out to a 5-8 score at the first TTO. The Brazilian wing-spiker also performed well in blocking and the away team comfortably went on to 6-11. Argentina kept struggling: Rodrigo Quiroga fired an ace and Federico Pereyra blocked well to narrow the gap to 10-13, but those three points remained untouched to 13-16. Eder, who finished the set with 11 points, also played an important role for Brazil in the second set, while the score evolved to a 16-20 in the final sprint. A failed local serve sealed the set (21-25).
With an almost flawless attack, Brazil made it easy in the first moments of the third set (6-8). Isac Santos, who filled the spot of the injured Lucao, served two unstoppable shots and led the way for his team to 8-12, and a while later Leandro Vissotto also scored with his serving (9-15). This time, Argentina showed signs of defeat and fell behind to 10-19, giving Brazil enough edge to be cool towards the victory. Dante and Lucarelli scored solid blocks and gave the match to Brazil by 15-25.
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