In the Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro, the qualifying volleyball tournament among men’s teams of Group A for the 2024 Olympics begins, in which 8 national teams participate. And in their first match, Ugis Krastins’ team will meet with the Cuban team, which has noticeably progressed in recent years.
Cuba
The main successes of the Cuban men’s volleyball team occurred mainly at the end of the previous century. It was then that the Cubans were one of the leaders on the planet in this sport, won gold medals in the World Cup and the World League, became bronze medalists of the World Championship, and also won the championship of North and Central America 6 times in a row (from 1987 to 1997) and the Caribbean.
Then there was a slight decline in the history of Cuban volleyball, but in 2010 at the World Championships in Italy, the Cuban team reached the final, where they lost to Brazil in the decisive match for gold medals. Around the same period, the Cubans again had two victories in the championship of North, Central America and the Caribbean (2009 and 2011), after which the Cuban team again began to perform unsuccessfully.
And only closer to the twenties of this century, a new rise began in Cuban volleyball. True, so far there have been no particularly high-profile successes at world-class tournaments, but this year Cuba won gold at the Central American and Caribbean Games, won bronze at the North, Central American and Caribbean Championships and took part in the matches of the League of Nations, where, by the way, it managed defeat Brazil and Iran. At the moment, Cuba is in 12th place in the world rankings, three positions ahead of Ukraine, which is in 15th place.
It should be added that the best Cuban players have recently been performing successfully in the championships of Brazil, Italy and other countries. And the captain of the Ukrainian national team Oleg Plotnitsky is well acquainted with the diagonal Jesus Herrera from his games for Perugia.
Ukraine
For the sixth month in a row, starting from May, our team has been in constant gaming shape and the Olympic selection will be the fourth important tournament for it. First there was the Golden Euroleague, where Ugis Krastiņš’s team won silver medals. Then, at the Candidates’ Cup, in which teams fought to qualify for the Nations League for the next season, the Ukrainians took 3rd place. And finally, most recently at the European Championships, the Ukrainian team made it to the quarterfinals, repeating its achievement in 2019 and the 2022 World Cup.
Unfortunately, over such a significant stretch of the distance the Ukrainian team was not without injuries and losses, which is why the coaching staff was missing several leading players. They were unable to recover for the Olympic selection, so our team will compete with exactly the same composition as at the European Championships.
And I would also like to draw attention to the fact that the tournament organizers decided to stage all (!) matches of our team at a late time by Ukrainian standards (the difference with Brazil is 6 hours). For example, Ugis Krastins’ team will have to start games four times at 23.00 Kiev time and three more times at half past two in the morning. Moreover, the first matches without the participation of Ukrainians will start in Rio de Janeiro at 16.00, and the second at 19.30. Of course, the Ukrainian national team had 10 days to adapt before the start of the tournament, but it’s hard to say now how long this will be enough for all 7 matches.
Match statistics
The Ukrainian national team has not previously met with the Cuban national team in official matches.
Forecast for the confrontation:
The game is very important for both teams at the start of the tournament. And the opponents’ chances are approximately equal. Let’s support the Ukrainian team and bet on its victory 3:2.
CALENDAR AND RESULTS OF MEN’S SELECTION MATCHES FOR THE VOLLEYBALL OLYMPICS
October 1, Sunday
2023-09-30 18:42:29
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