The Polish national team has lifted the “quarter-final curse” and will play for Olympic gold during the Paris Games for the first time in 48 years. After a close semi-final battle, Nikola Grbić's team defeated the United States 3:2 (25:23, 25:27, 14:25, 25:23, 15:13) and will play for the title with the French. “The great men of Nikola Grbić defeated the USA after such a horror that all the masters of Hollywood put together could not have imagined. Maybe this is not the best team in the history of Polish sportsbut show me a better one” – wrote Łukasz Jachimiak from Sport.pl.
Next to Tomasz Fornal and Norbert Huber, Wilfredo Leon stood out the most, scoring 26 points. “A hero, a bombardier, a beast. He was not an equal game Leon, but in key moments it didn't matter. It was in them that he showed his greatest value. At the beginning of the match he was like a machine. Who will make the difference? Leon. Who will lead the Polish attack? Leon. To problems? Leon. The seal on this performance was the last attack in the match” – Jakub Balcerski from Sport.pl wrote, giving Leon a score of 5+ on a scale of 1-6.
Saturday's match with the French will not be so easy for the Polish national team. “It was a show of strength by the French. This is the first warning for Nikola Grbić's team before Saturday's match for gold. They will have the whole of Paris against them. For at least a few dozen minutes, the Poles will become public enemy number one. Since they were already singing “La Marseillaise” at the top of their lungs in the third set of the semi-final, it is better not to think about what will happen on Saturday, when they play the Poles,” added Balcerski.
Former Russian coach talks about Olympic final: “I always favor Russia”
As it turns out, the struggle volleyball players at the Olympic Games in Paris they are also being followed in Russia. Vladimir Alekno, former coach of the Russian national team, spoke about the Poland-France match on sport-express.ru. – The Olympic tournament is at a very high level, and the final will certainly be no less impressive. Do I favor anyone? I always favor the Russian national team. In this sense, I am not interested in either Poland or France – he said.
Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, Russia is suspended from international competition and in 2022 it lost the rights to host the World Championship to Poland and Slovenia. It is worth adding that Russia won 11 medals in men's volleyball at the Olympic Games, six of which were won as the Soviet Union. Russia has won four Olympic gold medals, the last time being in London 2012, when it defeated final 3-2 Brazil.
The final of the Olympic Games in Paris between Poland and France will take place on Saturday at 1:00 PM Polish time. We invite you to follow the live text coverage on Sport.pl and in the Sport.pl LIVE mobile application.