It took us over a day to accept the fact that France would not be going to the Final 6 of the World Championship in Turin.
Earvin Ngapeth, Kevin Tillie, Jenia Grebennikov and France have been eliminated after failing to finish as the top team in their pool with Poland, Serbia and Argentina or as one of the two best second best ranked teams from all 4 pools.
Before the tourney started, France was one of the top teams favored to make it to the Finals. During the first round, they lost to Brazil (2-3) and The Netherlands (2-3) so they ended up 3rd in their pool.
Some of the highlights of Brazil's 🇧🇷 huge 3-2 (25-20, 25-20, 21-25, 23-25, 15-12) win over France 🇫🇷 in #FIVBMensWCH Pool B at Ruse 🇧🇬, ⬇️! #volleyball #volleyballWCHs @volei @FFvolley pic.twitter.com/QUmja1uTdd
— Volleyball World (@FIVBVolleyball) September 13, 2018
Highlights of an amazing Netherlands 🇳🇱 3-2 (23-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-23, 15-13) win over France 🇫🇷 are here! It's their 3rd straight win in #FIVBMensWCH Pool B! @Lange_Mannen #volleyball #volleyballWCHs pic.twitter.com/JUhYCbYBxh
— Volleyball World (@FIVBVolleyball) September 16, 2018
With this result, they moved to the second round with Poland, Serbia and Argentina. Their loss to Serbia in 5 sets defined their destiny in the tournament. Their chances of making it kept getting slimmer and slimmer despite winning against Poland and Argentina.
Serbia 🇷🇸 got a huge win over France 🇫🇷, in a dramatic five-set thriller 3-2 (22-25, 26-24, 25-20, 18-25, 18-16) in the Palace of Culture and Sports, in Varna.
Here are the highlights.
Stats and photos: https://t.co/3rZE63ENBM#FIVBMensWCH#volleyballWCHs#volleyball pic.twitter.com/0WgAgsaTQT
— Volleyball World (@FIVBVolleyball) September 21, 2018
At the post match press conference after France beat Argentina to keep their hopes alive. Coach Tillie was very realistic with his statement.
“We are happy but not so much. We had too much pressure the last matches, the last days. We just tried to survive. It was difficult to stay in the game against Argentina today because we really wanted to win but at the same time it was difficult to find the rhythm. Luckily, in the end Ngapeth put the team on the right track and pushed us to the victory. I have no expectations regards to the match between Serbia and Poland, I am not going to watch it.”
A few hours later after Poland crushed in Serbia, France was eliminated.
Setter Benjamin Toniutti was the FIRST French player to share his emotions on social media. In his post, he shared the disappointment but also took time to thank their supporters.
Kevin Tillie just posted this.
Star players Ngapeth and Grebennikov have not posted anything.
What’s next for Team Yavbou?
As expected, the players will have a few days or some weeks off before they join their respective professional club teams. Ngapeth will be in Russia to play for Zenit Kazan, Grebennikov to join Trentino Volley in Italy and Toniutti heads to Poland to play for Zaksa while Kevin Leroux will travel to Brazil and play for Cruzeiro.
Despite a disappointing exit at the World Championship, France did not finish the 2018 empty handed. Coach Tillie’s squad took home the silver medal at the inaugural edition of the Volleyball Nations League.