On the evening of 7th, at the break of dawn on 8.8 (Vietnam time), the indoor volleyball match at the 2024 Olympics took place in the first semifinal match between the Polish and American teams. The audience present at the South Paris Arena 1, as well as those following the match on television, witnessed a match worthy of the highest level.
The Polish men's volleyball team is currently the world's number 1 team and, despite going through the group stage not too well, the "White Eagles" have shown their strength by defeating Slovenia 3-1 in the quarterfinals.
Against the American team, their opponent whom they have beaten 6 times in a row, Poland went through a 5-set match and at one point seemed like they would have to take the bronze medal route.
In set 1, there were moments where Poland led their opponents by 4 points, such as 7-3, 10-6, 17-13, 24-20, but as soon as their opponents scored 3 points in a row, they fell into a psychological state with a score of 24-23, but ultimately ended set 1 with a score of 25-23.
In set 2, the American team began to gain the upper hand by scoring 4/5 points to lead 6-4, maintaining their advantage until set-point 24-23. However, Poland managed to tie and set 2 could only end at 27-25 for the American team.
Set 3 witnessed a shocking collapse of the Polish team when they allowed their opponents to score a series of points from 11 to 25, while they could only score 5 points from 9 to 14 and were led 2-1.
However, concentration returned in set 4 for another thrilling match, with a score of 25-23 helping Poland to tie the score 2-2.
Entering set 5, the deciding set, the Polish team quickly gained an advantage and could have ended early when leading 14-10. However, once again, the final points caused extreme tension as the American team narrowed the score to 13-14 with a series of 3 consecutive points.
The match ended with a dramatic moment when Wilfredo Leon's spike bounced out. The score of 15-13 sent the Polish team to the final of the 2024 Olympic men's volleyball with a chance to win their second gold medal after their first in 1976.
The opponent of Poland is the host team, France, after the remaining semifinal match ended with a surprising result.
The Italian team ranked above France by 1 spot on the world volleyball men's ranking and ended the group stage with the top spot on the overall ranking.
In the quarterfinals, they staged a dramatic comeback to win against Japan 3-2 despite being down 2 sets, earning them some respect. However, the final result was a surprising upset when France won 3-0 convincingly against the world champion - 25-20, 25-21, 25-21.
Thus, the final match of the 2024 Olympic men's volleyball has been determined between France and Poland, while the American team will compete for the bronze medal with Italy.
