With the notes of old defeats written in its logbook, Cuba abruptly stopped Germany this Thursday (3-1) to maintain its undefeated status in the Men's Volleyball Nations League and position itself favorably in the fight for an Olympic spot for Paris 2024.
After annihilating the almighty Brazil (3-1) in their debut, coach Jesús Cruz's team did their homework against the Europeans and celebrated partials of 26-24, 25-20, 18-25, and 25-23 to improve their points in the world ranking.
Quick math calculations place the largest of the Antilles in the tenth position on the list, with 256.84 points, as the victory granted 7.18 points. In other words, once again, it narrowed the gap versus Serbia (ninth, 258.22), the closest rival in the fight to qualify for the competition on French soil.
However, Cuba could sleep tonight in a qualifying zone if the Serbians fall in their duel against Japan, an extremely complicated rival that even has a guaranteed presence in the quadrennial event.
Regarding individual performance against the Germans, the assistant Marlon Yant once again "grabbed" the headlines, with 23 points, including a direct serve, while also standing out were the attacker-receiver Miguel Ángel López (18) and the middle blocker Javier Concepción (13/five blocks).
A separate paragraph deserves Osniel Melgarejo, who came off the bench in the fourth set to lead the winners' rebellion. His power from the service line weakened the German defense, and the Cubans rallied on the electronic scoreboard of the Maracanazinho in Rio de Janeiro.
So far, Brazil, Germany, France -due to its host status-, Japan, the United States, Poland, and Canada have secured spots for the event under the five rings, which will take place from July 26th to August 11th in the French capital.
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