Brazil vs. France
Both sides covered their part of the field nearly perfectly in the first set, hence a point-for-point play. France was the first to succumb to the pressure under rival’s attacks as Brazil took a two-point lead at the second technical time-out (16-14), which was a first time in the match any team had more than the minimum lead. Bruno Rezende ’Bruninho’ mostly used Ricardo Lucarelli in the attack, which paid off to Brazil in this set, but had bad consequences for Brazil’s play in later stages of the game. Maurício Souza made a couple of kill blocks of which the one for 23-19 was a key to winning the first set by a 25-21.
France learned their lesson from the first set and focused their defense on stopping Lucarelli. Due to the fact Wallace de Souza was marginalized in the attack for the most of the opening set, his hits in the second set did not have a recognizable power and he simply could not establish a proper connection with Bruno. So, Brazil’s setter turned to forcing quick attacks which did not show as a good solution since French players „read“ this quite well. The „Team Yavbou“ simpy dominated in blocking in the second set (7) while Earvin Ngapeth himself made 3 kill blocks, which were his first three points in the set. The lead of the French National Team has increased rapidly from the beginning of the set, 5-1, 12-7, 16-9, up to the final 25-15!
Third set turned into drama at its finish although not many things in Brazil’s play indicated it would be so. By making strong serves, especially from Kévin Le Roux, France totally broke the reception of their rivals, not allowing Bruno to organize a single meaningful attack. It quickly reflected on the score (10-5). As the set got closer to its finish, Wallace finally started to show what he’s made of and set off a shooters showdown with Ngapeth on the other side. By making lucky hit at 13-11, Trévor Clévenot managed to prevent drama, but just for a moment. Brazilian NT head coach Renan Dal Zotto called for time-out as his team was 4 points down (17-13) during which Wallace was visibly nervous. He had one-on-one conversation with Bruno, probably trying to persuade the setter to give him more balls in the attack. Even if he didn’t, that’s exactly what happened. Wallace scored his 8th point in the set for 20-20. Despite the pressure, both from the stands and on the court, French players remained calm, not allowing Brazilians to pull them in the „machine“. Le Roux blocked Wallace as „Team Yavbou“ converted its first set ball 25-23. Brazil committed 9 unforced errors in this set!
France mostly relied on Ngapeth in the attack, as Stéphen Boyer and Clévenot did not support him properly as from the middle of the second set. The fact Julien Lyneel came in to shake things up a bit didn’t help France. In such a power constellation, when there are Wallace and Lucarelli both making attacking contribution on the other side, France had no chance to finish the match in four sets. Or to finish it at all. The surprise factor in Brazil was Éder Carbonera, who replaced Maurício Souza and made few highly important kill blocks, while Brazil served and played defense nearly perfectly. As from the first technical time-out, it was certain Brazil wil tie the game, 8-3, 10-4 and 25-19.
The echo of the official announcer and the roar from the stands made by the Brazilian fans between the fourth and fifth set gave the additional strength to the host team who began tie-break on the right foot, while there was no sharpness in the attack of the French National Team (7-4). When Brazil got 10-8, it smelled like the 10th gold medal in the tournament for them, but… a brave heart of Ngapeth should never be underestimated. Despite it seemed the tempo of the game dried him out, Ngapeth had one-man-show from this point on, pushing his team to a 5-1 run and, ultimately, to winning the 2017 World League, which was sealed with a straight down hit of Clévenot for 15-13!
Ngapeth finished the match with 29 points, followed by Boyer, who had 18. In Brazil, Wallace and Lucarelli scored 22 each.
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