Cuba's men's team will face Chile today on the first day of the Pan American Volleyball Cup, to be held until next Sunday in Quebec, Canada, a qualifying event for the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile.
Havana, August 9 (RHC)-- Cuba's men's team will face Chile today on the first day of the Pan American Volleyball Cup, to be held until next Sunday in Quebec, Canada, a qualifying event for the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile.
The Cubans are in Group A, which is completed with the teams of the Dominican Republic and the United States, while in Group B are the teams of Brazil, Puerto Rico, Mexico and the Canadian host, also in search of points for the ranking.
According to the announced schedule of the tournament, Nicolás Vives' disciples will face the Dominicans on Wednesday and the Americans on Thursday, in the closing of the group phase, while on Friday will be the quarterfinals, with the crossings: second of the A and B against the third of the A and B.
The semifinals will take place on Saturday, when the first-place finishers will wait for their rivals, and on Sunday the bronze and gold medals will be discussed, in that order.
Regarding the Cuban team, it was reported that center back Roberlandy Simón traveled to Canada, but with little chance of playing due to an injury in one of his fingers during the training sessions prior to the game -a five-point cut-.
The other unplanned absence is that of center back Javier Concepción, who did not make the trip due to problems with his QR code.
Vives is in Quebec with passers Adrian Goide and Lyvan Taboada, center backs Liván Osoria, Simón and Roamy Alonso, assistants Miguel Ángel López, Marlon Yant, Osniel Mergarejo and Julio César Cárdenas.
The 13-player team is completed by opposites Jesus Herrera, Michael Sanchez and Miguel David Gutierrez and libero Yonder Garcia.
Cuba, Argentina and Mexico climbed in that order to the podium in the 2019 edition, when the most valuable player was Cuba's Lopez, while in the 2021 edition, also hosted by Mexico, the winners were the Mexican hosts, the Canadians and the Americans, respectively.
The historical medal tally is led by the United States (5-2-0), followed by Brazil (3-1-0), Cuba (3-0-3), Argentina (2-5-2), Mexico (2-1-1), Canada (0-2-3), Dominican Republic (0-1-3) and Venezuela (0-0-1).
