JAPAN is out of the running for spots in the knockout stage of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The crowf favorite lost its second Pool G match to Canada on Monday, 20-25, 23-25, 22-25, and crashed out of playoff contention along with Libya.
Ranked fifth in the world before the tournament, Japan previously lost to Turkiye in its pool play opener on Saturday, 19-25, 23-25, 19-25.
Worse, the world No. 5 side still hasn’t won a single set in the competition.
"We still played so aggressively today, but we lost important points. We couldn't find our rhythm. We have to ask for a near-perfect game in volleyball. We still have many issues," said leading scorer Ran Takahashi, who had 11 points and four digs in the loss.
Filling in the big shoes left by veteran opposite hitter Yuji Nishida, Kento Miyaura was nearly in tears and at a loss for words as Japan is now set for an untimely group stage exit.
"For this moment, I'm sad of the loss this game. It was a very important game for us. We still have a game (Libya) so we have to prepare for it," Miyaura said.
"It's hard to say [what went wrong] but with our performance, we have to know.. I don't know how I can say but it's hard to say."
This becomes the second time in three editions of the FIVB Worlds that Japan failed to make it out of the group stage.
The local crowd darlings look to bow out from the competition on a high when they take on also-ran Libya on Wednesday, 9:30 p.m., still at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
In the 2018 edition, Japan finished fifth when there were still six teams per pool in the group stage with just two wins in five games.
Chin up, still
Captain Yuki Ishikawa, who was sidelined for the most part in Set 3, is still proud of what Japan has showed in the competition despite being unable to win a set yet.
And against a better foe in Canada, the fan favorites struggled to take a step farther even as they were backed by their legions of Filipino supporters at the Big Dome.
"When we had the chance, we couldn't check the points and those points were the key. Canada did pretty well especially on blocks and defense," Ishikawa said.
"We wanna show our best volleyball and we have one more match for the seeding, We'll give our best. I'm proud of the team and staff but we just couldn't take a good result so we'll come back stronger."
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