“Bravo Korea! Proud of them all! Let’s never give up and keep fighting!” Cesar posted a congratulatory message on his personal SNS on the morning of the 20th (Korea Standard Time).
The Korean women’s volleyball team, led by head coach Fernando Morales, beat Thailand (13th in the world) 3-1 (25-19, 23-25, 25-15, 25-18) in the final game of the first week of the 2024 International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Volleyball Nations League (VNL) at Maracaranginho Gymnasium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the morning of the 20th (Korea time).
Korea’s victory in the VNL match is the first time in as many as two years and 31 games.
The Korean women’s volleyball team, which retired a large number of veterans including Kim Yeon-kyung (Heungkuk Life Insurance) and underwent a generational change, has suffered from a major slump for two years.
In particular, VNL suffered ups and downs to the extent that it had never won.
When former coach Stefano Lavarini moved to the Polish women’s volleyball team after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Cesar, who was the head coach, took over the baton.
Cesar was tasked with generational change of Korean women’s volleyball. However, the national team’s performance in international matches has been significantly slanted from the start. It started with a crushing defeat against Japan in the 2022 VNL, and failed to win a single game until 2023.
Her performance was the same at the World Championships. She lost all four of her five group matches and managed to secure one win at the last match against Croatia. At the Hangzhou Asian Games held last year, she failed to win the gold medal for the first time in 17 years since the Doha Asian Games in 2006.
Public opinion of former coach Cesar has declined for the first time in more than two years. In addition, the fact that he joined the national team’s training team by concurrently serving as a club also contributed to the worsening public opinion.
In response, the Korea Volleyball Association replaced Cesar and appointed Fernando Morales, the former head coach of the Puerto Rican women’s volleyball team. The condition was that the coach would not engage in both club activities. Morales accepted the offer and started the game with the Korean women’s volleyball team.
Of course, the first shot was tight. Morales also started three consecutive games (against China, Brazil and the Dominican Republic) in the first week of the VNL with consecutive shutout losses.
However, it was different in the match against Thailand. Kang So-hwi, Park Jung-ah, and Jung Ji-yoon’s triangle formation sparked fire, and Kim Dain’s toss evenly utilized several offensive options, beating Thailand, where setter Ponpoon was absent.
Kang So-hwi (22 points), Park Jeong-ah (16 points), Jeong Ji-yoon (16 points) and Lee Ju-ah (11 points) evenly scored against Thailand on the day. They also led 12-8 in blocking, and committed fewer errors than half, 13-25.
South Korea set its goal for this tournament at least one win through open media training before departure.
“I will definitely win one win because I haven’t won a single win in two years,” Jung said at the time. “I honestly felt very sad and sad (when I was losing). This time, I want to win one win no matter what.”
For now, the team successfully reached the goal it had set. However, the rest of the teams are mountain ranges with more ruggedness. Faces are expected one after another with Poland (world No. 3), Turkiye (world No. 1), Japan (world No. 8), Canada (world No. 10), and the Netherlands (world No. 11). The most important task is not to collapse without a hitch.
Meanwhile, Korea will move to the U.S. from the second week to face Bulgaria on May 30 (1:00 a.m.) and Poland on May 31 (2:30 a.m.), Turkiye on June 2 (3:00 a.m.) and Canada on the 3rd (1:30 a.m.).
After that, from June 12th (7:20 pm), the VNL schedule will be concluded with the last confrontation with Japan, the first host country in Japan, France on the 13th (3:30 pm), Italy on the 14th (7:30 pm), and the Netherlands on the 16th (11:30 am)
BY: 토토사이트 순위