Europeans Dominate the Men Pool Phase at the Paris Olympics 2024. 5 out of 8 Quarter-Finals Spots Claimed

As the Men’s Pool stage draws to a close at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the European nations have put in some dominant displays, clinching top spot in two of the three pools.

World No. 3 Slovenia won Pool A to advance to the quarter-finals. The Europeans opened with a 3-1 win over Canada and followed it up with a comfortable 3-0 victory over fellow Europeans Serbia, with Toncek Stern leading the way for his nation, finishing as top scorer in both matches.

This set up a top spot decider against France, which went down to the wire. Slovenia took a two-set lead, but France battled back to force a deciding fifth set. Slovenia proved the stronger in the end and prevailed 15-11. Once again, Stern was Slovenia’s main man, finishing the game with a huge 28 points.

Italy finished the pool stage with the best record in the competition, only dropping two sets in their three matches. The Italians opened with a 3-1 win over Brazil, in which Yuri Romano led his nation with 20 points, and followed that up with a comfortable 3-0 win over African champions Egypt.

Those wins set up a blockbuster final pool stage match against Poland, with the winners topping Pool B. Once again, Romano stepped up with 20 points, ably assisted by superstar Alessandro Michieletto who scored 17, as Italy earned a 3-1 win to secure top spot in the pool.

Slovenia will face Poland, the No. 1 ranked team in the world, in a mouth-watering quarter-final clash. Poland opened with a convincing 3-0 win over Egypt, and then had a blockbuster against Brazil, which the Europeans took 15-12 in the deciding fifth set. Serving superstar Wilfredo Leon racked up 26 points in that victory over Brazil.

Italy will face Japan in the quarter-finals after the Asian champions earned one of the best third-place spots, finishing third in the competitive Pool C.

There is another all-European quarter-final as France take on Germany after both sides finished as runners-up in their pools. Hosts France came through a tough five-set clash against Serbia in their opening match, with Trevor Clevenot and Jean Patry leading the way, before a more comfortable 3-0 win over Canada before the defeat to Slovenia.

Germany were the sole European representative in Pool C and they opened with a 3-2 victory over Japan. Gyorgy Grozer scored from everywhere with 15 attacking points, five blocks and four points on serve.

In the second match, against USA, Germany battled back from two sets down to force a deciding fifth set, but just fell short. That left the Germans knowing a win against Argentina would secure second place in the pool, and they made no mistakes, winning 3-0 with Grozer again the pick of the scorers.

The final quarter-final sees USA take on Brazil with the winners facing either Slovenia or Poland in the semi-finals, with Italy, Japan, France and Germany sitting in the top half of the draw. The quarter-finals take place on Monday 5 August.