The Brazilian men’s team beat Canada this Thursday morning in the Nations League. Capital victory for Renan Dal Zotto’s team by 3 sets to 0, partial 25/18, 25/19 and 25/16, in just 1h27min of play. With this result, Brazil reaches seven victories in the competition and “virtually” guarantees a place in the quarter-finals. The third week of the League of Nations takes place on Japanese soil, in the city of Osaka.

The selection returns to the court this Friday against France and ends participation in this phase against the owners of the house on Sunday. All matches are broadcast on the sporTV channels.

Brazil now have 21 points (seven wins and three losses) in fifth place overall. With 22, the United States, France, Italy and Poland occupy the first places. Since the last two selections are still entering the court this Thursday and can stand out in the table. USA and France faced off earlier with a 3-2 win for the Americans, partials 15/25, 25/22, 22/25, 25/14 and 15/8.

The top eight advance to the final in Bologna, Italy, July 20-24. Behind Brazil, Japan has the same number of victories as the national team. The Netherlands have six, Iran have five and Slovenia and Serbia have four. With four of the six teams occupying the last places in the next phase, only a very unlikely combination of results could knock Brazil out of the quarter-finals at this stage.

Brazil had a convincing performance against the Canadians. From the first point of the match, the young Darlan gave a glimpse of what was to come after a small start. Even before the selection opened 3/0 in the first set, Leal felt his ankle after the attack, but it was just a scare. In the streak, the game was more balanced, with the Canadians looking for Leal himself in the offensive actions. With some flaws on reception, Brazil saw Canada touch in 8/7.

That’s where Bruninho came in with his big variation in ball distribution. With Flavio falling very well through the middle, Renan Dal Zotto’s men came back to open a four-point lead on 8/12. And from then on, all that was left to do was take off with Isac’s attack and Flavio’s counter, which closed the first set at 25/18.

In the second set, Isac was once again the antidote to the Canadian backlash. In two moments when the opponents opened up a three-point lead, his pass on serve was the differential. The player served very well by disrupting Canada’s pass line on 3/0 and 12/9. Until 14/14, the game was balanced. However, in the home stretch, Brazil’s technical superiority was once again evident. The selection closed the set after two touches in the lifting of Canada and against Isaac.

The third set only crowned the excellent performance of the titular sextet, formed by Leal, Darlan, Lucarelli, Flavio, Isac and Bruninho. Brazil’s top scorer with 15 points, Leal came back to match in the partial, dropping his arm above the Canadians. And so the set that seemed the most balanced, played point by point at the start, brought Brazil out to close at 25/16.