The Netherlands came back from two sets down against Argentina to achieve their second win in Pool F of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship 2022 and get very close to qualifying for the Round of 16. Their opposite and captain Nimir Abdel-Aziz put away as many as 32 points on the way to a 3-2 (28-30, 20-25, 25-21, 27-25, 15-9) victory in Ljubljana on Monday, leaving the South Americans winless after two five-setters lost in the pool.
Men's World Championship 2022
Nimir instrumental in amazing Dutch comeback
The opposite hammers 32 points against Argentina to steer his team back from two sets down
Published 03:07, 29 Aug 2022
Nimir on the serve
Iran and Egypt will play next (17:30 local time / 15:30 GMT) at Arena Stozice and if the Asians live up to their status of favourites in that match and win it, they and the Netherlands will both book their tickets to the Round of 16.
· Watch all FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship 2022 matches live on Volleyball TV.
The Dutch team celebrate a point against Argentina
In the first two sets of the match, Nimir scored only in offence, but the team were missing his prolific contribution in blocking and especially in serving points. He hammered his first ace in the match in the third set to put the Dutch at a 17-13 lead and unleash the momentum for a possible comeback. He aced twice more in the fourth set (for 13-10 and for 21-18) and finally spiked for the 27-25 winner on the Netherlands’ fourth set point to prompt the tie-breaker. He also chipped in two kill blocks in those two sets and eventually finished with the match high of 32 points, registering a 68% success rate in attack.
Nimir’s Argentinean counterpart Bruno Lima was one of his team’s two leading scorers in the match. He opened the match with a successful swing in the first rally and closed the extended first set with an off-the-net ace for 30-28 on Argentina’s sixth set point. He also started the tie-breaker with two back-to-back points, an attack and a block, for 2-0 before the South Americans found themselves with a 3-0 lead in the deciding set. The Argentinean opposite registered a 60% success rate in spiking and finished the game with 17 points. Outside hitter Luciano Vicentin, whose tally included four kill blocks and an ace, also signed off with 17 points.
Lima celebrates
Argentina’s other outside hitter Facundo Conte put away 16 attacking points at a 53% success rate, while middle blocker Agustin Loser scored in 75% of his attempts in offence and added three aces to his tally.
After falling three points behind at the start of the fifth set, the Dutch managed to restore the balance swiftly at 4-4. The true momentum changer came after 6-6 when they won a big challenge after Conte managed to squeeze the ball between the net and the Dutch blockers, but then touched it under the net before it dropped to the floor. That overturned decision to call it Argentina’s way continued an eight-point Dutch series, with outside Thijs Ter Horst behind the serving line and middle Michael Parkinson owning the net, which gave the Netherlands an emphatic 12-6 lead. Then the Europeans just cruised on to the win with outside Bennie Tuinstra elegantly tipping the ball for the 15-9 winner.
Parkinson hammers through the middle
Tuinstra was the Netherlands’ second best scorer with 15 points (1 ace, 1 block, 57% in attack), followed by Parkinson with 12 (1 ace, 3 blocks, 67% in attack) and Ter Horst with 11 (2 aces, 50% in attack).
“It feels amazing! Argentina won the bronze medal at the Olympics last year and they are a really good team. They are higher than us in the ranking. So it was a difficult match,” Nimir said after the game. “We didn’t play badly in the first two sets, but we almost didn’t do anything in serving. After that, we started putting a little bit of pressure there too and we continued to fight. When you are 2-0 behind, the only thing you can do is continue to give energy and continue to give everything you have. And we did it. Everybody who came in played well. Nobody gave up.”
