A week after the women's qualifiers for the Olympics, the same competitions for men took place. Their format has not changed - the 24 best teams in the world ranking were divided into six groups and disputed one trip among themselves for three days. The Russian team again hosted one of these mini-tournaments on its territory, now in St. Petersburg.
Only rivals have changed and the balance of power between them. If for the women's team there could be fears because of her disastrous performance during the season and falling into the same group with a strong South Korea, then Tuomas Sammelvuo's wards did not cause such anxiety. To the current winners of the League of Nations came Mexico with Cuba, who did not even compete in this tournament, and Iran.
It was worth taking the Asian team seriously, especially since this season the Russians have already lost to it. But it was almost two months ago, then Sammelvuo did not have all the best players at hand, and in the “Final Six” of the League of Nations the Iranians did not succeed, starting at the tournament with two defeats.
Although the conditions for the selection for the Olympics could not be called impracticable, Sammelvuo strengthened the team immediately with four players, who could be called the "old guard". Artyom Volvich, Maxim Mikhailov, Alexander Butko and Dmitry Musersky, who healed all the injuries, took the place of volleyball players who came out only for a replacement.
The first three team coach immediately threw into battle in a match with Mexico. Five years ago, North Americans were able to beat the Russians one set at the World Cup, but this time they were too far from this. Having lost a little at the beginning of the first game, the owners of the site quickly made up for lost time and stepped forward. Soon, the Russian team began constant shifts in the composition, and it was a good sign - the match turned into preparation for the next games. Only the best player of the League of Nations, Yegor Kluka, was left to watch from the side, as the Mexicans scored only 43 points per match, which lasted 71 minutes.
The next day, the Russians met with Cuba, which a few years ago was a combat-ready team, but the escape of several leaders to other teams at once seriously weakened the team. The match was expected to stretch to the minimum possible three sets, but as quickly as in a meeting with the Mexicans, they did not pass.
Confidently the Russians won only the first batch, in which they did not receive a single block in seven of their blocks. Dmitry Volkov played excellently, realizing all his nine attacks. But in the second set, problems began - the limit of errors turned out to be exhausted, and the Cubans willingly punished them. The situation when the Russians were losing with a score of 18:21 was managed to be corrected by the inspired game of Viktor Poletaev and faultless innings. In the third set, the Russians were already leading for a long time, and the Cubans were trying to organize a chase. The guests almost succeeded, but still they lost with a score of 25:27.
Iran did not lag behind the Russians and also, in essence, the final game won two on-duty victories. At the beginning of the match, Amir Gafur was the soloist - he managed to beat the triple block and complete the ace. But the Russians managed to maintain an equal score, and by the second timeout Poletaev earned a comfortable advantage. After two more mistakes of their own, the Iranians were already four points behind and could no longer recoup. The score in the first game was 25:19.
In the second set, the Russians for the first time had to recoup for a long time. Ilyas Kurkayev’s game went wrong, and the Iranians managed to score four points in a row. Poletaev had to save the situation again, who brought points with almost every touch of the ball. After the second technical break, Iranian players, if they went ahead, then only one point. This continued until Poletaev went to the second ten of his points. The Iranians played two setballs, but Volvich still put an end to the game.
The next game became the richest - the teams no longer won successively one draw after another, but made jerks of three to four points. And while the mistakes of others partly helped the Russians, then the Iranians themselves led the score 20:17, forcing Sammelvuo to take a timeout. A conversation with a mentor helped, and the tournament hosts were able to quickly catch up with rivals.
At this crucial moment, the Iranians faltered - by giving out, they gave the Russians a matchball, and by hitting the antenna they gave the whole match. The Russian men's team selected for the Olympic Games in Tokyo after the women's, eliminating the need to undergo a more complex continental qualification.