In the most interesting clash of the first day of the men's Olympic volleyball tournament, "Squadra Azzurra" earned a valuable victory over "Seleção", while "Bundesteam" secured a slightly surprising success over the Asians
The Italian national team defeated Brazil with a score of 3:1 sets in their debut match at the Olympic Games in Paris. The "Azzurri" and the "Auriverdes" played a great spectacle, in which the Europeans emerged victorious. In this way, the Italians took the lead in the temporary standings of Group B, which also includes the teams of Poland and Egypt, who will play each other later today.
The first set started better for Brazil, who took an early lead and maintained it, but in the decisive moment Italy came back and managed to turn things in their favor - 1:0 after 25:23.
The second set was a complete mirror image of the first - the "Azzurri" were the leading team on the court for almost the entire set, but Brazil managed to save 3 set points, and in turn reached one of their own, which they did not capitalize on. In the end, Italy managed to snatch victory in the second set with 27:25.
Brazil shook off the shock of losing 0:2 and became more active in the third set - "Seleção" unleashed themselves on the court and completely controlled the situation, winning the third set with a convincing 25:18.
In the fourth, the game continued to be even, similar to the first two sets, with Italy still celebrating a deserved 3:1 victory after 25:21.
The most points for Italy in today's super clash was opposite Yuri Romano with 20 points (1 block, 2 aces and 71% attack efficiency).
The "Azzurri" outside hitters Alessandro Michieletto (1 block, 48% attack efficiency and 23% perfect reception) and Daniele Lavia (4 blocks, 1 ace, 35% attack efficiency and 14% perfect reception) scored another 13 and 12 points for the win.
For "Seleção", the top scorer today was opposite Darlan Souza with 25 points (1 block, 1 ace and 64% attack efficiency).
Outside hitters Yoandy Leal (2 aces and 62% attack efficiency) and Ricardo Lucarelli (1 ace, 46% attack efficiency and 29% perfect reception) added another 15 and 14 points, but this proved not enough for more than a respectable loss.
Earlier in the day, the opening match of the men's Olympic volleyball tournament between Japan and Germany, who are part of Group C, was played. The "Bundesteam" prevailed in an extremely interesting match against the likeable Asian team with a score of 3:2 sets (25:17, 23:25, 20:25, 30:28, 15:12).
Here is a brief statistic of all players who took part in the match between "Squadra Azzurra" and "Seleção":
ITALY:Simone Giannelli 2, Yuri Romano 20, Alessandro Michieletto 13, Daniele Lavia 12, Gianluca Galassi 8, Roberto Russo 8, Fabio Balaso–libero (Riccardo Sbertoli, Mattia Bottolo, Luca Porro)
Head coach:Ferdinando De Giorgi
BRAZIL:Bruno Rezende, Darlan Souza 25, Yoandy Leal 15, Ricardo Lucarelli 14, Lucas Saatkamp 7, Flavio Gualberto 3, Thales Hoss–libero (Adriano Rodrigues, Henrique Honorato, Fernando Cachopa Kreling, Lucas Bergmann)
Head coach:Bernardo Rezende
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