Argentina dethrone Brazil and claim South American title

Argentina’s second victory at the Volleyball Men’s South American Championship, confirmed on Wednesday, in Recife, ended 56 years of Brazilian dominance in the continent and took the Tokyo Olympic bronze medalists back to the top of the podium after 59 years.

Playing in front of a loud Brazilian crowd, the Argentineans gave no chance to the hosts and won their fourth match in the tournament in straight sets (25-19, 27-25, 25-22) to take the historic title. Colombia finished third, with Chile in fourth place and Peru in fifth.

Argentina had won their first continental title back in 1964, the only edition in which Brazil didn’t play. The hosts of this year’s tournament entered the 35^th edition of the event with 33 titles in as many appearances and had won each of the 28 continental events held since 1967.

Back with the national team after sitting out of the 2023 Volleyball Nations League, star outside hitter Facundo Conte was Argentina’s main scorer against the Brazilians, producing 15 points. Opposite Bruno Lima tallied 12, while outside hitter Luciano Vicentin and middle blocker Agustín Loser added 11 each.

The match’s top scorer was Brazilian opposite Alan de Souza, the only player in his team to reach double digits – he registered 19 points.

The 23-year-old Vicentin was named as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and Argentina also saw setter and team captain Luciano De Cecco and middle blocker Nicolas Zerba make it to the event’s Dream Team alongside Brazil’s Alan (opposite), Ricardo Lucarelli (outside hitter) and Thales Hoss (libero), Colombia’s Daniel Carabali (middle blocker) and Chile’s Vicente Parraguirre (outside hitter).

Argentina and Brazil will both attempt to book their tickets to the Paris 2024 Olympics at the Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifier from September 30-October 8. The Argentineans will be a part of Pool C in China alongside the hosts, Poland, the Netherlands, Canada, Mexico, Belgium and Bulgaria while Brazil will host Italy, Iran, Cuba, Ukraine, Germany, Czechia and Qatar in Pool A. The two best teams in each pool qualify.