This is going to be an epic match between 2 European teams!
After more than a month of exciting men’s volleyball matches in various countries, only 2 teams are left standing, Russia and France. The winning team will go home with US$1 MILLION and will make history as the very first VNL Champions.
Russia’s performance in the Final Round has been superb and they showed it yesterday against Brazil. Mikhaylov and team showed no mercy against their South American rivals and won the match in 3 easy sets.
France played a nail biting match yesterday against the USA and won it in 5 sets. After dominating the first 2 sets, Coach Tillie’s squad lost focus in sets 3 and 4. In the tiebreak, it was a physical and mental battle between the 2 teams but USA committed more errors and eventually gave in to France (13-15)
After winning the last edition of the World League last year and replaced with the VNL this year, France is in its second consecutive gold medal appearance. Take note, the last time a host country won an annual tournament similar to the World League and VNL was back in 1997 when The Netherlands outclassed Italy in 5 sets in the city of Rotterdam.
What should France do to beat Russia?
It’s never easy to play in front of your fans and with a gold medal at stake, France MUST learn to handle the pressure throughout the match. The calmer they get, the more chances they have against a very solid Russian team.
Earvin Ngapeth must pick up his game after a disappointing performance against Team USA. Let’s hope opposite hitter and our MVP pick Stephen Boyer will play another great match against Russia. He was nearly unstoppable against Matt Anderson and team the other day. Toniutti is setting his middles well so we expect more production from Le Goff and Le Roux. Libero Grebennikov also had an off match against USA but no doubt he will step up his game against a great serving team like Russia.
What should Russia do to beat France?
If they play the way they did against Brazil in the semifinal round, it will be an easy match for Russia. This team has been playing great volleyball since the Final Round started. Led by outside hitter Volkov, middle blocker Muserskiy and opposite hitter Mikhaylov, Russia will be hard to stop.
After winning last year’s European Championship, their fans have been waiting for them to win an international title and bring back their glorious days in men’s volleyball. The last time Russia won gold in any world class event was at the 2013 FIVB World League.
PREDICTION: RUSSIA 3-1 FRANCE