Yuji Nishida vs Wilfredo Leon | Japan vs Poland | Men's VNL 2023

22 year old. Guest is underway in the second set. Leon fires that ball and makes crunching noise off the block. Yeah you wouldn't want to be the fingers of anybody. Nishida lining up, can he open up that serve? I think she has to wait a while for that ball to come down. Good job we've got a tall ceiling here in the ball of Asia. Off the block and out of play. Nishida does get a point off the attack. Blockers are up so early as well. Nishida does a great job of going off the side of Leon. So when you're blocking. Tatsunori Otsuka before he serves and he forces the O-pass from Slivka. There's the backcourt attack. Great save. Go again Nishida. What a play. What defense. Well the captain is leading by example. Great block but the cover is what keeps this ball in play and Japan go at it again off three blockers. High and off the hands. Nishida out on the left hand side. He mixes up a little bit. Goes quick and then just a delicate little touch. And that's almost the exact same play that Poland just sent to Japan. Pop up of the middle. There it is. And then right over his shoulder comes Nishida with a crafty little touch. Poland down by one. Make that two. As Nishida goes high and hard of the block. It's interesting to hear the coach's insights when you go courtside with Keith at the end of set two and just bring it to life. I didn't really understand what Goebbels was saying because he's got such a couple of points here for Poland. It's a big challenge for Japan getting back into it. Nice block. Jumps that's out wide from Nishida. And that's a huge block from Leon. Monster block Leon. Welcome. Look at the penetration. He is so far over the net just letting nothing through. Absolute domination. Almost powered through the block isn't he? Four blocks to none for Poland. Big game. Little tip. Well read. Nishida. It's gone high and it's gone out. Well just every once in a while. It's kind of back and forth between the players at the moment. One time big block. Another time used. Great pick up by Japan to get themselves another opportunity. But again that's exactly the ball we're talking about earlier. Great serve. Just a little bit wide on the pass. Leon comes through. Oh wow he's insisting there's a touch. He has cut across the ball. If he has he's caught the outside of the block. Well that was such a tough ball. Either way that ball coming from way out. A serve. Well the signs are on the door for Japan. Four down now against Poland. And again from going from undefeated. Now with six points on the deficit at 2014. Nishida right into the hands. Leon was laying in waiting. Perfect. Even holds his hands up there for the celebration afterwards. And we have all eight places confirmed. In the game earlier Canada and China. Canada got a much-needed victory which kept them safe. But unfortunately meant that China will be departing out the VNL and dropping into the Challenger Cup. We'll play that in about a month. Flat set to the middle. Picked up from Janusz. Set us out. Slivka takes it. Leon. It just comes off the left hand of Kentaro Takahashi. The 28-year-old can't quite get that full press. So Poland into position as soon as Asseta takes it. Nishida down the line. Well really sneaky. Watch his action on the replay. Very deliberate. Here we see in slow motion. Very last moment. And then. Well he's number one on the shirt. And he's number one. He's the number one fan. Everybody here. All the players have enjoyed the spectator. No changes for Poland. They've stuck as they are. Larry tries a little tip but get tucked up. Leon goes hard into the three hands. Uwe falls down but gets the ball up. Oh tight angle. Leon just buries that ball outside the three meter line. It's a lovely angle. So here's the block drift. Court opens up. And it's a side out they do need to improve on when they've got that ball. Back on our set. That's too tight. Tucked up underneath the net. Well I also asked Garibic if I was going to get a smile out of him because his team is two sets up. They're feeling and looking good. I don't know if we did get a smile. But then when they start to talk about other positions they then start to really get you to start thinking about what your role is. Yeah you're exactly right. You can learn so much from different coaches, different people, and from watching. Anyone that's just watching now and is wanting to learn the highest level volleyball. You're doing exactly the right thing because you're getting shots like this. Slow motion of Leon and you can see. We're on quest down for Philippines Great serve. Look at that. Down the line and Tatsunori Otsuka just falls away to his left hand side and watches that ball spin into the crowd. Leon again. Leon going full power down to the left side. Well that ball just picked up right in the middle of the court. Miura couldn't get the swing. Oh well pull back there from Tatsunori Otsuka. Free ball coming in for Poland. Here's the wave and Leon from the back line. The wave, the tsunami, the overwhelming waters that are Poland. Great bring back by Japan but that was always going to be opportunity. Free ball and then that pop up in the back. It's interesting because he doesn't lead with his left arm like your classic kind of left arm up and guiding through. He hits very square on. Good pick up. With the free ball and we've got obvious out wide. There he goes. Leon he won't be quiet for long. He's almost he's just like a tiger waiting to pounce all the time. Beautiful up by Janusz to keep the ball flying. Big swing but ultimately Leon too heavy. Look at how much line he has as well and he still goes cross off the hands. Goes straight up and down in front of the setter. Roganowski loves that push wider. Well Leon has he gone to the corners. He's tried that one across the left hand side. It's just drifted a little bit too much. Went for it though. There's fame beyond volleyball here in the Philippines. Nice one Tamita. Free swing. Kentaro's really not had much to do in the game. Pull away from the net. They do. Tamita goes hard at the three. Off the block and out of play. Well it's not over yet. Shaz to keep that smile going for Japan. Well some of the crowd are already lining up but yet. Womatch with the serve. Not an easy ball to deal with here. Majora goes into the block. Likewise for Tamita but he goes through the block. He went in and through. They're not over yet. It is. Oh it's just wide. It is. That's the game over. 25-18 and three sets to zero. In the end a victory for Poland. That sees them go 10 wins, two losses. Undefeated here in the Philippines. The second loss for Japan.