Nishida unstoppable as Japan bounce back and beat Argentina

Under pressure after their opening-match defeat to Germany, Japan responded immediately and strongly to secure their first victory in the men’s tournament of the Paris 2024 Olympics on Wednesday against Argentina.

In the second match of the day at the South Paris Arena 1, the Ryujin Nippon recovered their best game and dominated the Tokyo Olympic bronze medalists to produce a critical 3-1 (25-16, 25-22, 18-25, 25-23) win that significantly changed their situation in Pool C.

Now with four points, the Japanese are in second place and are almost guaranteed in the quarterfinals – they can still finish first in the pool if they beat pool leaders the United States, who have five and are qualified, on Friday, at 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT). The set won by Argentina didn't get them any points, but was enough to keep the South Americans alive in the tournament as they can now finish third ahead of Germany if they manage to beat the Europeans, who have three points, in three sets when the teams meet on Friday at 9:00 local time (7:00 GMT) - to advance, they would still need to be one of the two best third-placed teams.

"This was a critical match for us here in Paris and we're so happy that we won," setter Masahiro Sekita said. "We tried to change some things from the first match and that helped us win. We had a lot of pressure coming into this match, but we handled it well and could have a good performance. The United States will be a strong opponent but we'll stick to our plan and the way we play."

Japan’s fourth consecutive victory over Argentina also returned them to third place in the FIVB World Rankings as the Asians managed to pass France and Slovenia with the 5.20 points they earned with the triumph, bringing their total up to 352.90.

Star opposite Yuji Nishida was on fire and accounted for the vast majority of the Japanese offensive production against the Argentineans, producing a match-high 21 points (16 kills, five aces). Outside hitter Ran Takahashi (14), middle blocker Taishi Onodera (12) and captain Yuki Ishikawa (11) also had solid performances.

"We came into this match knowing it was going to be different than the one against Germany," Ran commented. "We had some struggles at the start as we had some opportunities to score but didn't take advantage of them. But we played really well, and got a very important win, which we hope will lead us to others, starting in our next match against the United States. They are very strong servers, so we'll need to be prepared for it, but if we play well we can win. Winning a medal here is our goal and we know a lot of people expect that from us, so we need to prepare well for the matches and stick to our style."

The Asians were stronger offensively (58 kills to 49) and from the service line (eight aces to five), while the Argentineans prevailed in blocks (eight to five) and got more points from opponent errors (24 to 22).

On the Argentinean side, veteran outside hitter Facundo Conte was the most efficient with 19 points (17 kills, one ace, one block), followed by opposite Bruno Lima, who delivered 16 (14 kills, one ace, one block).

"We know we're almost out and it's difficult to talk now, I really want to cry," middle blocker Agustín Loser reflected. "We had different expectations for us, for sure. We played badly against the United States, but today it was a good match. We did some things better, but we didn't take our chances to win the second set and things could maybe have been different if we did. We're a team that fights until the end and we'll play our next match as a final, regardless of if we're in or out."

Men back on the court on Friday

The match between the Japanese and Argentineans completed the men’s match schedule at the South Paris Arena 1 on Wednesday, which also included a dramatic five-set victory of FIVB World Ranking leaders Poland over Brazil.

Paris 2024 – Match Schedule and Results

The men will be off on Thursday, returning on Friday with a full day of matches, which will start with Argentina playing Germany at 9:00 local time (7:00 GMT), continue with Brazil facing Egypt at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT) and France battling Slovenia at 17:00 (15:00 GMT) and end with Japan meeting the United States at 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT).

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