The French men’s volleyball team won the Nations League for the 4th time on Sunday in Lodz, Poland, beating Japan 3-1 in the final.
The French men’s volleyball team, reigning Olympic champion, won the Nations League for the 4th time, beating Japan in the final 3 to 1 (25-23, 18-25, 25-23, 25-23 ), Sunday in Lodz, Poland.
The Blues are adding this 2024 edition to their list of achievements, after those of 2015, 2017 (when the competition was still called the World League) and 2022. They can approach the big event of the Paris Games in less than a month with full confidence. “It’s always very difficult to win against them”commented Jean Patry, the best player in the final, to the Polish broadcaster. “To prepare for our Olympic objective, we could not have hoped for a better high-level framework than this VNL.”
The day after the feat (3-2) against world number 1 Poland, European champion and defending champion, after saving two match points, it was up to Earvin Ngapeth and his team to confirm their rise to power, against a Japanese team in search of a first international title since winning gold at the Munich Games in 1972 and not to be underestimated. The day before, the Japanese, trained by Frenchman Philippe Blain, former coach of Les Bleus (2001-2012), had in fact unceremoniously dismissed Slovenia (3-0), who had nevertheless finished top of the group stage, by delivering an impressive defensive performance.
So the Blues were warned. Especially since eight days ago in Manila, they had been overthrown by the Japanese, while they were leading 2 sets to 0, guilty of a slackening illustrating their inconsistency of the moment. This time, Andrea Giani’s men did not let their chance pass, despite a big slump in the second set, the only time when they appeared messy in attack, disorganized on the counter, after winning the first with forceps.
The blue counter block
They immediately closed ranks, behind Jean Patry, top scorer in this final with 24 points, who was able to secure the victory in the third round, which became indecisive again then hot, when the Japanese erased six units of delay to return to 23-23. Aware of having come close to a major disappointment, the French were nonetheless ahead in the score and managed to tame the Japanese fury, by first relying on the counterattack, a sector where they largely dominated ( 11-5), with attendants Nicolas Le Goff and Quentin Jouffroy (3 each). The fourth and final set was close until the end, with Japan refusing to give in. But he ended up doing it on the first match point, once again a victim of the blue counter, with full force.
Less than a month from defending their Olympic title in Paris, satisfactions are jostling on the French side, driven by great confidence. They found “gaming identity” who, by Andrea Giani’s admission, had somewhat eluded them last year. The victories help with this: the one in the semi-final against Poland, even more so, by the virtues demonstrated and the level reached, the one against the Japanese having had the merit of reminding them of the taste of champagne to drink at the bottom of a glass.
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During their campaign, which took them to three continents (Antalya, Ottawa, Manila, Lodz) in five weeks, the Blues demonstrated that their physical condition was at the top and that their mental strength was made of titanium, when the matches become unbreathable. Giani, anticipating that matches will often find their epilogue in the tie-break of the fifth set at the Olympics, was served. The Tricolores have won five out of seven in this campaign. But on Sunday they showed that they could also win faster.
