Argentina heads to final of FIVB Men's Junior World Championship - Volleyball
Argentina became one of the two teams that would be playing for the gold medal match of the FIVB Men's Junior World Championship after they defeated the Americans 3-1 on the August 9th. The Maracanazinho Gymnasium in Rio de Janeiro saw the two
sides battle each other in the final round of the tournament in front of an excited crowd.
The first set of the match was tight all through and no one could judge where the tables would turn until the very end. However, it was the American side that was able to assert their dominance in the opening set of the game. The second set was even more
thrilling than the first one but the Argentineans were able to seal the deal this time around. Once they got into their stride, the Argentineans were successful in winning the third and fourth sets by comfortable margins. The score board showed an Argentinean
victory at the following final set scores: 27-29, 28-26, 25-19 and 25-20.
Juan Manuel Chichello, the Argentinean coach expressed himself by making the following comments at the end of the match: “We knew it would be a tough match as the American have a great team. We worked very hard to have this opportunity. This will be our
first gold medal match at FIVB Men's Junior Championship and I would like to share this moment with all volleyball practitioners in Argentina.”
On the other hand, the American coach John Hawks IV gave these statements: “It is difficult to win a match when you make 37 mistakes. We served well in the first set, but when they could manage it, it was very hard... We got together for only three weeks
before the tournament and became the first team in our country to play a semi final match of FIVB Men's Junior World Championship."
The opening set saw the U.S. take the lead at 9-5 that the Americans were able to improve till 14-8 that led them to a 20-13 advantage. However, the Argentineans put up a valiant effort and closed in the gap at 23-21. The match went back and forth from then
on but the Americans bagged a win at 29-27.
The first technical time out of the second set came with an American lead at 8-3. As the match progressed, both the teams reached a tie at 20-20. Neither the Americans nor the Argentineans gave up but Argentinean managed to scrap a win at 28-26.
After that point, the Argentineans dominated most of the third set and got to an easy win at 25-19 while the fourth one too went along similar lines and ended in 25-20, in favour of the Argentineans.
The Argentineans will either be playing the Russians or the Serbians in the gold medal match. The team that turns up on the losing end of the Russia/Serbia clash will be competing with the Americans for the bronze medal.
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