Argentina secured a spot in the second round of the competition by defeating Australia on Saturday at Centennial Hall in Wroclaw
Wroclaw, Poland, September 7, 2014 – Argentina are secured of a spot in the Round of 16 of the FIVB Men’s World Championship by scoring a straight-set victory over Australia (25-18, 25-19, 25-18) in a match of Pool A at Centennial Hall on Saturday.
The victory earned Argentina a 3-1 win-loss record while Australia dropped to 1-3. The Aussies play a crucial match with Venezuela while Argentina meet hosts undefeated Poland on Sunday.
Key facts
• Argentina outserved Australia 8-1
• First back-to-back victories for Argentina since 1990
• Australia have lost their last three matches in a row at 2014 World Championship
Facundo Conte had 19 points as the best scorer for the winners, followed by Pablo Crer and Martin Ramos with 11 and 10, respectively, in the victory. Edgar Thomas was the only Australian player who scored in double digits with 13 points.
Australia started the match better than their opponents but two unfinished moves by Thomas Edgar and smart spikes by Jose Luis Gonzalez and Martin Ramos gave Argentina a 7-5 lead. Following the first technical time-out, the South American team steadily increased the gap thanks to Facundo Conte’s counter-attacks. The Australians had problems with reception and they could not stop strong Argentinean spikes. When head coach Jon Uriarte’s team were losing by seven points, they managed to win three plays in a row and captain Aidan Zingel played a wonderful block. Still, Gonzalez and Conte were unstoppable. The set ended up with the result 25-18 for Argentina due to Ramos’s ace.
The weak point for both teams was the service as the Australians and Argentineans both kept crashing the net. In addition, Gonzalez and Conte’s spikes were ineffective because of great opponent blocks. Thanks to that, the Australians managed to lead 8-6 going to the technical time-out. The break had clearly helped the Argentinians as they made up for the result and led 15-12 as Conte and Nicolas Uriarte showed good form. When Argentina had a four-point lead, Velasco decided to substitute Uriarte with Luciano De Cecco. The Aussies tried to threaten the South American team with superb kills by the likes of Zingel, however the relaxed Argentineans finished the set 25-19 following Santiago Darraidou’s kill.
Velasco’s team could say they is better to be lucky than good. They started with the weak Sebastian Sole’s service as the ball almost did not pass the net. The Argentineans improved their reception, but Edgar’s fantastic attitude was the reason Australia led 8-7. Following the second technical time-out, the Aussies were three points ahead, but Conte, Ramos and Sole’s precise kills were the keys to Argentina’s success. When they gained the 20th point, Australia got confused and Uriarte’s time-out did not help. Following Conte’s block-out move, Argentina won the set 25-18.