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Brazil's Men Take South America's LA28 Place 🌍
They beat Argentina in three at the Maracanãzinho, 25-20, 25-23 and 25-20, and finished five from five without dropping a set. Captain Ricardo Lucarelli was named MVP and said he wants to go out in Los Angeles.
Brazil's men have played at every Olympic Games since Tokyo in 1964. On Sunday morning in Rio they made sure of a seventeenth, beating Argentina 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-20) at the Maracanãzinho for the one place South America sends to Los Angeles.
Both teams came into the last round of the round robin unbeaten. Brazil left it at five wins from five without losing a set, in front of 11,968 people, with a 34th South American title in 36 editions.
Darlan Scored Almost Half of Brazil's Third Set
Darlan, the opposite, finished with 23 points and every one of them came from attack, per the FIVB's report. Twelve came in the third set, which Brazil won 25-20, so one player scored nearly half his team's points in the set that settled the place.
Brazil out-attacked Argentina 47 to 38 and out-blocked them 7 to 2 on the FIVB's count. Those two margins add up to 14 points in a match Brazil won by 12, so Argentina came out two ahead on aces and the other side's errors combined.
Argentina's leading scorer, Luciano Vicentín, had 11 points in the whole match. Seven of them came in that same third set, when Darlan was scoring twelve.
Brazil Talked Like a Team That Was Doubted
Brazil's players talked on Sunday about doubt and resilience rather than about a 34th title, and the captain went first.
Brazil captain Ricardo Lucarelli, named the tournament's most valuable player, speaking in Portuguese to the Brazilian federation, the CBV, in our translation.
The feeling is of a duty almost fulfilled, because it's only the Olympic qualification and we will still have a lot of work to do. After a turbulent year, of many doubts, we managed to show that this group is very combative and very much deserved this place. Beating Argentina 3-0 is very rare, but it wasn't a simple match. We managed to play very well, put pressure on with the serve, and it worked.
Adriano, the outside hitter, gave the nearest thing to a cause. He told the CBV the team had left this summer's Nations League feeling it could have done more.
Lucarelli also told Olimpíada Todo Dia that he knows his time is coming and wants to finish in Los Angeles "com chave de ouro", with a golden key, which is Portuguese for going out on a high.
Argentina Have Two Roads Left to LA28
Argentina finished second at four wins and one defeat under head coach Horacio Dileo. They leave Rio with a place at the 2027 World Cup in Poland, as do the bronze medallists Chile, who beat Bolivia 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-17) on Sunday.
Twelve men's teams play in Los Angeles. One is the host, five are continental champions, three come out of that World Cup and three out of the world ranking in 2028, so Argentina have the last two routes to work with.
Argentina won the Olympic bronze in Tokyo by beating Brazil in five sets, and went 0-3 in their pool in Paris.
