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The US Men Cannot Win Moncton's Olympic Place
The United States opened against Guatemala on Friday morning. NORCECA sends the top four eligible teams into a separate Olympic qualifier on 18 and 19 September, and the Americans are barred from it as LA28 hosts.
Eight teams began the NORCECA men's continental championship at the Avenir Centre in Moncton on Friday morning, and the one team that cannot win the Olympic place on offer is the United States.
The Americans played Guatemala at eleven o'clock. One place at the 2028 Olympics is on this fortnight and so are three at the 2027 World Cup in Poland.
NORCECA runs two tournaments back to back here. The championship finishes on 16 September, and its top four eligible teams then play a separate Continental Olympic Qualification tournament, semi-finals on 18 September and medal matches on 19 September, for the single Los Angeles place.
The United States are excluded from that second tournament because they qualified for 2028 as the host nation. They can win everything in Moncton that is decided before the eighteenth and none of it changes where they were already going.
Karch Kiraly, the United States head coach, in NORCECA's own round of coaches' comments published on Thursday.
NORCECA came up with a creative solution for this situation for the Olympic qualifying phase. We are thrilled to be included in the Championship and included in phase one, as we already have spot in the Olympic Games. We look forward to playing great teams in the NORCECA zone like Canada and Cuba, it's a wonderful learning opportunity for us. We are also looking to earn the World Cup berth and play our best to finish out the 2026 season.
They Beat Canada Thirteen Days Ago
The United States beat Canada 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-21) in Ponce on 29 August to win the NORCECA Final Six for a third year running, and they hit .333 doing it.
The blocks were 16 to three. Jacob Pasteur scored 14, Sean Kelly 12 with four blocks, and libero Troy Gooch handled 18 excellent receptions.
Canada are in the other pool, so a rematch in Moncton has to wait for a semi-final or a final.
The Berth Is Canada's to Lose
Canada are the hosts, the highest-ranked eligible team in the field and the side that reached the Ponce final. The berth is theirs to lose and the rest of this is about who might take it off them.
Canada are in Pool A with Mexico, Puerto Rico and Curacao. The United States are in Pool B with Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala.
The FIVB's own preview on Thursday named Surinam in that field. NORCECA's entry list, Volleyball Canada's schedule and Curacao's head coach all say Curacao, and Volleyball Canada has Canada playing them at seven o'clock on Friday night.
Pool winners go straight to the semi-finals and the teams that finish second and third play quarter-finals on 14 September. Cuba played the Dominican Republic at half past one on Friday and Mexico played Puerto Rico at half past four.
Jose Manon, who coaches the Dominican Republic, to NORCECA.
We're here representing the Dominican Republic. We faced some visa issues with a few players, but we've brought a team ready to compete.
Seven eligible teams are chasing four qualifier places and the top three in the final standings also take the World Cup berths. Canada, Cuba and the Dominican Republic were the three who joined the United States in the medal rounds at Ponce.
We expect Canada to take it without having to beat the United States on the way, and to drop a set to Cuba doing it.
