The USA are once again champions of North and Central America and the Caribbean region. The Americans defended their title in the men's NORCECA Continental Championship after a dramatic 3:2 (25:19, 26:24, 25:27, 17:25, 15:13) victory over hosts Canada in the final at the "Avenir Centre" in Moncton.
Thus, the USA, Canada, and Cuba, who won the bronze medals, secured the three NORCECA quotas for the 2027 World Cup in Poland. The top three places in the concluded continental championship granted the right to participate in next year's tournament.
Canada came back from 0:2, but the USA held on in the tie-break.
The Americans seemed close to a relatively quick end to the final, after taking a 2:0 lead with scores of 25:19 and 26:24. However, Canada refused to give up.
The third set reached 25:25, before Xander Ketrzynski scored the last two points for the hosts – 27:25. The Canadians carried the momentum into the fourth set, where they built a huge lead and reached 25:17.
Thus, the champion had to be decided in a tie-break.
The decisive fifth set went point for point. Canada equalized at 12:12, and shortly after the score became 13:13. An error by the hosts gave the USA their first match point, after which the Americans closed out the match at 15:13.
Ketrzynski was the top scorer in the final with 26 points. For the champions, Matt Anderson and Jake Hanes finished with 18 each.
The USA had an advantage in attack – 64:55 points, as well as from serves – 7:4 aces. Canada compensated with a much stronger block – 12:5.
Cuba took the third quota for the World Cup.
In the bronze medal match, Cuba left no doubt against the Dominican Republic and won 3:0 (25:22, 25:19, 26:24).
Robertlandy Simon, Miguel Lopez, and Marlon Yant each scored 11 points for the winners.
Thus, the three NORCECA quotas for the 2027 World Cup definitively went toUSA, Canada, and Cuba.
The Continental Championship does not provide a quota for Los Angeles 2028.
With the conclusion of the battle for medals, the qualification for the World Cup ended, but not the one for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
The USA already has guaranteed participation in the 2028 Olympics as the host country and for this reason, they are excluded from the battle for the single Olympic quota that NORCECA will distribute through its continental qualification. The official regulations stipulate that the four highest-ranked teams after the exclusion of the USA will proceed to the separate Olympic phase.
These areCanada, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and MexicoThe Mexicans secured their spot after a 3:0 (26:24, 33:31, 25:16) victory over Puerto Rico in the fifth-place match.
The battle for Los Angeles 2028 begins on September 18th
The final NORCECA Olympic qualifier starts on September 18th, again in Moncton. The format is direct elimination – two semifinals, after which the winners meet in the final on September 19th. Only the champion of this mini-tournament gets a quota for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
Olympic qualification schedule:
September 18th – semifinals
4:30 PM local time – Canada – Mexico
7:00 PM local time – Cuba – Dominican Republic
September 19th
4:30 PM local time – third-place match
7:00 PM local time – final
The times in Moncton are six hours behind Bulgarian time, which means the semifinals are at 10:30 PM and 01:00 AM Bulgarian time, respectively, and the final starts at 01:00 AM Bulgarian time on the night of September 19th to 20th.
The winner of the final will become the second NORCECA representative with a guaranteed spot at the Olympic Games, after host USA. The official schedule confirms the semifinals on September 18th and the decisive matches on September 19th.