Argentina beat the United States on the last day of the preliminary stage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics men’s volleyball tournament and qualified for the quarterfinals.
Argentina created a massive sensation at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics men’s volleyball tournament. The fact it beat the United States on the last day of the group stage (Pool B) is a smaller piece of this sensation. The larger piece is the elimination of its rival from the competition!
After starting off on the wrong foot and losing to the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and Brazil, the team commanded by Marcelo Méndez stringed three wins and sealed one of the two remaining spots in the Top 8 across all pools. In less than an hour, Argentina beat the USA by a 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-23) and prevented the three-time Olympic champion and bronze medalist from Rio 2016 to continue the Tokyo campaign. Facundo Conte led the South American side today with 16 points. Santiago Danani made 81.3 % reception (13/16). Torey DeFalco scored 13 points for the United States.
Japan’s tie-break victory over Iran confirmed its classification among the Top 4 in Pool A and the first advancement to the quarterfinals of the Olympics in 29 years (Barcelona 1992). Yuji Nishida showed his class, pouring in 30 for the host, including 4 blocks. Yuki Ishikawa served 4 aces and made 70.4 % reception (21/27; 2 errors). Meisam Salehi scored 26 for Iran, while Seyed Mousavi set up 5 blocks.
2020 Tokyo Olympics men’s volleyball tournament, group stage – last round:
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)
