The Argentine men’s volleyball team achieved a victory over Egypt by 3 to 2 which allowed him to qualify for the round of 16 of the World Cup in Poland-Slovenia.
Argentina prevailed with partials of 27-25, 26-28, 24-26, 25-17 and 15-6 against the Egyptianswith central defender from Mendoza Agustín Loser (19 points) as figure and opposite Bruno Lima from San Juan as top scorer with 23.
With the obligation to win in order not to be eliminated from the tournament, the team led by Marcelo Méndez did not play a great game in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, but the victory was enough for him to enter the round of 16 as one of the best third parties. Now he will have to wait for other results to find out his next rival, in a match that will be -surely- against one of the best.
The Argentines came from two defeats in group F by 3 to 2 against Iran and the Netherlands, which -already qualified- will define the positions for the next phase today.
24 countries participate in this World Cup, divided into six groups of four, and the best two from each zone will advance to the round of 16, plus the four best third parties.
Against Egypt, Argentina formed with Luciano De Cecco, Bruno Lima; Agustin Loser, Martin Ramos; Facundo Conte and Luciano Vicentin. Libero: Santiago Danani. Jan Martínez, Matías Sánchez, Pablo Kukartsev and Luciano Palonsky also entered.
Formosan striker Ezequiel Palacios was unable to play in the group stage due to a knee injury.
The Albiceleste team, bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, presents a mixed team in this World Cup with eight of the players who were in the historic conquest and six young debutants in the Senior World Cup.
In its 12 World Cup participations, Argentina only managed to get on a podium in the 1982 World Cup, which was played in our country, and ranked 15th in the last World Cup in Italy-Bulgaria in 2018, when the team was led by Julio Velasco.