The World Ranking leaders battled the United States for five sets before winning their semifinal duel
Published 05:19, 07 Aug 2024
Poland came back from a 2-1 deficit to overcome the United States in the semifinals
FIVB World Ranking leaders Poland are set to reappear in the men’s volleyball gold medal match at the Olympics after 48 years at the Paris 2024 Games after they came out on top in a dramatic semifinal against the United States on Wednesday at the South Paris Arena 1.
After the two sides split the first four sets playing exciting volleyball in front of over 10,000 energetic fans, the Europeans had the edge in the tie-breaker to take the match 3-2 (25-23, 25-27, 14-25, 25-23, 15-13) and advance.
The Polish regained their spot among the top teams in the world in the last decade with one of their strongest generations ever, winning major titles such as back-to-back editions of the FIVB World Championship (2014 and 2018), the Volleyball Nations League (2023) and the European Championship (2023), but continued to pursue the elusive Olympic medal, which they are now guaranteed to take home from Paris.
"I'm really proud of the team, we did a great job together," star outside hitter Wilfredo Leon said. "To be in the final means a lot to us. We've been waiting for this for so many years. I'm very happy to know that we'll get a medal here in Paris, but I want gold. And I think our moment has come to take it."
The Americans, who have three golds at the Games, will now try to win their third bronze and elevate their medal count to six – seven players of the current roster that finished third at the Rio 2016 Games eight years ago will have an opportunity to make it to the podium again.
The second semifinal will reunite European giants Italy and France, who are the defending champions, at 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT), on Wednesday. The bronze medal match is scheduled for Friday, at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT), while the final will take place on Saturday, at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT).
Leon was the difference-maker for Poland, with a match-high 26 points
Leon was huge for the Polish in the five-set battle against the Americans, ending the match with 26 points (22 kills, two blocks, two aces) and scoring in key moments. Middle blocker Norbert Huber also played an excellent match, delivering another 15, and helped split the team’s scoring load alongside outside hitter Tomasz Fornal (13) and opposite Bartosz Kurek (11).
"We've had some crazy matches like this with the USA before, so we kind of expected it" libero Paweł Zatorski, who sustained an injury during the fourth set, but came back to the match, commented. "We had many issues, but we survived. Surviving is kind of our playing style and I'm glad we did it again in such a big moment. Taking Poland back to the final is huge, that's why we were crying after the match. But we want to win every gold medal we can for our country and we still have one more step to go, so we'll prepare for it."
An Olympic champion with his native Yugoslavia at the Sydney 2000 Games during his playing career, head coach Nikola Grbić credited his players for the big victory over the Americans.
"I don't think I had ever been in a match like this as a coach, not in such an important moment" he added. "This was a victory for our entire team. We had one of our middles (Mateusz Bieniek) and a setter (Marcin Janusz) out with injuries and then Zatorski went down and we didn't know if he was going to come back, so I just told the guys that we were going to win with whoever we had on the court and that we would need everyone to get the victory. We played as a team and believed until the end that we could win it."
The USA had veteran opposite Matt Anderson delivering an amazing performance, leading the team with 24 points (23 kills, one ace). Outside hitter Aaron Russell was also hugely productive, adding another 20 (18 kills, two blocks).
"It's a tough loss," Anderson reacted. "It was just the small things at the end. We gave them the lead and it's hard to get it back when they serve the way they were serving. But we've been here before and we know how to turn it back on. We worked too hard and are too good of a team to just leave it now. We still have a chance to compete for a medal and that's what we're going to do."
In a match of slim margins, Poland only outscored the Americans in aces, with six to four. The United States got the most kills (68 to 62) and also more points from opponent errors (32 to 29), while each team registered seven blocks.
