France was a steamroller and ended the golden dream of Argentina that will go for the bronze against Brazil

08/05/2021 10:33 AM

• Clarín.com

• sports

Updated 08/05/2021 10:42 AM

Argentina could not secure a medal or reach its first Olympic final.

France, the one that had eliminated the top candidate for gold (Poland), blocked all attempts by the men's volleyball team and downplayed it with their perfect reception and unwavering blocking to get into the final of Tokyo 2020, where they will face the Olympic Committee Russian, and send the Argentines to

the tough match for the bronze against Brazil

, the Olympic champion in Rio 2016, on Saturday at 1.30. 

With a very high level in reception that allowed him to manage his attacks on Piacere, where Jean Patry finished with 15 points and Trevor Clevenot with 14, France won 25-22, 25-19 and 25-22 in one hour and 27 minutes of play. play.

Facundo Conte, meanwhile, was the top Argentine scorer with 13.

The game started erratically for both, with errors in the service, where the French accumulated seven fouls and five the Argentines in the first set.

But the Europeans quickly adjusted the pegs, tried to take dominance of the game from the start and actually took a 3-1 lead.

The National Team, which always ran behind its rival, did not despair and found itself in advantage for the first time with the duel 4-3 but it was France that made the maximum difference -of three points- to reach 12-9, which forced Marcelo Méndez to request the first time out.

The coach pointed out the mistakes that the French blocking could make and Facundo Conte understood it perfectly, adding two points in this way to discount.

With a shorter distance on the scoreboard, however, arbitration rulings came into play, including a challenge well won by France on a ball that had ended in Argentine point but had previously touched the floor in a defense by De Cecco.

It was not surprising that France entered the final stretch up (20-17) but a great defense from Conte, important points from Bruno Lima and an

incredible disconnect between point guard and attacker

in France allowed Argentina to come back and go 21-20.

However, when the Europeans accelerated, they had no failures and took the first set 25-22.

That brilliant reception always at the head of point guard Antoine Brizard and a planned and adjusted blocking was exacerbated in France in a second set, where Argentina felt

the impotence of playing against an unstoppable rival

, who on top of that achieved the biggest difference on the scoreboard in this quarter. (six points) and kept it until the end.

Méndez managed to get his team to attack more through the center, with Loser getting good points from his entry, but in the second time-out (with the score 12-16) his indication could not twist history.

"Let's have patience and turn it around. Patience on our first receiving ball. Let's find the best option," he told them.

But the reception was not adjusted and the great level of France led to a resounding 25-19.

With serves of more than 110 k / h, perfect catches and even impossible balls that returned to the court in those few problems with the first ball, France got closer and closer to its goal of being a finalist after leaving Poland on the way. the great candidate for gold.

Unlike the second set, Argentina stayed in the fight after a poor start to the third set.

But the reaction, with which he

reached the final stretch 20-20

, was not enough to contain a rival who handcuffed him and made it impossible for him to develop his game.

In a historic Olympic Games for Argentine volleyball, there will still be one more chance to

match that performance of Seoul 1988

, in which the National Team led by Hugo Conte was bronze.

Facundo's dream will be to match his father, although facing Brazil, the team that eliminated him in the quarterfinals five years ago, which arrived in Tokyo with the aim of repeating the gold medal and which since 2000 has not been missing in any Olympic final.

Undoubtedly, a difficult but not impossible goal for a team that already struck by eliminating Olympic runner-up Italy to be a semi-finalist.

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Tokyo 2020: France left Doncic undefeated, passed to Slovenia and will be the United States' rival in the final for gold