The Cuban men’s volleyball team needed to win by any score against Poland to keep alive the dream of qualifying for Paris 2024, but they lost in 3 sets (25-17 and double 25-20) and thus ended their race for the Olympic ticket and their participation in the Nations League (VNL) 2024.
The Antilleans did not find ways to harm the world ranking leaders and current champions of the competition, who exploited their entire arsenal to close the regular phase at full speed, with a balance of 10 wins and only 2 losses.
Wilfredo León, a Cuban who has been a Polish citizen for several years, led the European team in its sweep against the Caribbean team. The man from Santiago scored 16 points, 2 with his serve and 14 on attack, a concept for which he achieved an impressive 78% effectiveness in 18 shot attempts.
Meanwhile, the experienced opposite Bartosz Kurek and the assistant Tomasz Fornal supported León with 11 cards each. Fornal provided a notable demonstration in all game records, as he achieved more than 50% effectiveness in attack, was very aggressive from the service line and also emerged as the top blocker of the game with 3 points in defending the net. .
Cuba, for its part, could not do much. Miguel Ángel López was the team’s best scorer with 9 goals, while Michael Sánchez, Robertlandy Simón and Marlon Yant scored 7 each.
The team led by Jesús Cruz had the worst day in the block (only 3 points) and again made many errors in the serve. As if that were not enough, they never found stability in complex 1 (receive-pass-attack), the complete opposite of the Polish team, which executed this type of actions to perfection.
In this way, Cuba said goodbye to the VNL 2024 in ninth position, with a record of 17 points, 5 wins and 7 losses, very close to Argentina (18-6-6), which has everything in its favor to stay in last place. heading towards the final of the event, which will be held in Poland starting next Thursday, June 27.
In the medal discussion, in addition to the Polish hosts, Slovenia, Italy, Canada, France, Japan and Brazil have already secured their presence.
On the other hand, Cuba’s defeat completely buried its chances of Olympic qualification. The Antilleans came into the match with Poland with 251.69 points in the world ranking, 8.38 points behind Serbia (260.07). Any positive result from the Caribbean would put them ahead of the Balkans, forcing them to win against Slovenia this Sunday.
That will no longer be necessary. The Serbs will be able to go out to that closing match without any pressure and with the Olympic ticket in their pockets after 12 years away from the summer concert. The teams from Poland, Slovenia, Italy, Japan, the United States, Brazil, France, Argentina, Canada, Germany and Egypt will also be at the Paris Games, the latter as representatives of the African continent.
