The Brazil National Team dominated France and secured the first slot in the grand finale of the 2021 FIVB Men’s Volleyball Nations League in Rimini (Italy).
Brazil convincingly overtook France in the first semifinal of the 2021 Men’s VNL and advanced to its first-ever gold medal encounter in the tournament. The ‘Seleção’ dominated the rival, winning by 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-19). Brazil changed its posture compared to the match against France in the preliminary stage, which it lost – the first two sets bordered on perfection but in the opening set, at 18-13, Isac Santos got injured and never came back to play. ‘Les Bleus’ suffered from a bad day in offense of its main star Earvin Ngapeth (5 points; 4/16; 25 % efficiency). Brazil’s Yoandy Leal scored match-high 20 points. Here is what he said after the match:
“Our team was very concentrated on this match. We lost to France during the preliminary round, but today it was a great match for our entire team. Tomorrow we play for gold. The concentration of our team was the most important to play the game like this one. We served very well, we attacked very well, and we put a lot of pressure on France. No matter if we’ll play against Poland or Slovenia, we have to be prepared and fully focused on our team and our preparation.”
Maurício Souza set up 5 blocks for the South Americans. Jean Patry put down 12 points for France. Now, Brazil waits for the rival in the decider, this Sunday – Poland or Slovenia, who face each other in the other semifinal.
2021 FIVB Men’s Volleyball Nations League – semifinal:
Brazil – France 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-19)
Poland – Slovenia, 3 p.m. CET
