Coming from a bronze medal-winning campaign in Tokyo three years ago, the South Americans are confident they can be among the top teams of the event again and they count on a strong performance in their debut to get things going the right way in Paris.
“We’re really excited to start the Olympics,” said opposite Bruno Lima, the top scorer of the Tokyo Games. “The United States will be very tough opponents, but we are ready to start well. Our pool is very difficult, but all are, so we’ll take every match as a final. Getting here having won bronze in Tokyo gives us a little extra responsibility, but we are very aware of what we are as a team and we definitely want to be at the podium again. The arena is very big and beautiful and we’re looking forward to playing there.”
Also on Saturday, African representatives Egypt will face Poland at 17:00 local time (15:00 GMT) in a Pool B encounter – four hours earlier, volleyball powerhouses Italy and Brazil will clash at the South Paris Arena 1.
The Egyptians are returning to the Games after failing to qualify for Tokyo 2020 and know they will have a tough path in pool play facing three volleyball giants, but keep their hopes alive and their confidence elevated ahead of their opening match.
“It’s definitely going to be a tough start for us, but we’ll try to focus on our game and hopefully take the win,” outside hitter Ahmed Omar remarked. “It was a long journey for us to qualify and being here is a dream. But we want to continue in this dream and we’ll try our best to advance to the next round. Against such tough opponents, it’s hard to know what to expect, but we’re ready to do our best. I really like the color scheme of the arena, it’s very clean, and we can’t wait to play there in front of the fans.”
