The semi-final between defending champions Poland and the United States featured a massive five-set battle on Wednesday. Four games were decided with minimal differences, with both teams leading the match in terms of set percentage.
First, the advantage went to the Poles, who had reached the finals of the last three World Championships and won the first two, but had not made it to the Olympics. As in the last match of Group B, even though the score was 24:24 and then 25:25, the Americans could have been happy in the end.
In addition, their master then sent Tomasz Jaschke to the court as a substitute, whose game surprised the Poles, who played a completely secondary role in the third set and scored only 14 points. For a long time, even in the fourth game, the flag was in the hands of the Americans, but in the final match, the master of the Poles, Serbian Nikola Grbicz, found the antidote and managed to save the score to a draw.
In the decisive fifth game, the Americans were chasing the score almost all the time, and the Poles got four match points in a row in the end, and although the Americans saved the first three, the Europeans managed to fight for the final with the fourth. The Americans, who had won only once before, in 1976, managed to play in the Olympic final – and won.
The most successful player of the match was Wilfredo Leon of Cuban origin with 26 points – on the other hand, Matthew Anderson had 24 – but his teammate, the other Polish ace, Bartosz Kurek, had only 10 points.
They will probably be at their best in the final, where their opponent will be the defending champions France, who seem to be peaking at the Olympics, having not put anything on the table since Tokyo, but are now fighting in the final again. However, their opponent will be the world champion and European silver medalist, Italy, who have been able to keep up with them for a long time, but in the finals, their knowledge has often been exhausting, and they have had nothing to do with Trevor Cliffnot, who has reached 17 points, and they lack a real leader.
Men's Volleyball
semi-final
Poland-USA 3:2 (23, -25, -14, 23, 13)
France-Italy 3:0 (20, 21, 21)
