USA move on to Round of 16 after sweeping Portugal

September 15, 2025.- The United States became the fourth national team guaranteed in the Round of 16 of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship on Monday, when they secured their second victory in the tournament's Pool D at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, in Pasay City.

With six points earned and no sets dropped, the Americans are the first national team qualified in Pool D.

The Americans joined continental rivals Canada and European sides Bulgaria and Türkiye among the first teams qualified for the elimination rounds thanks to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-17) victory over Portugal in their second match in the tournament.

The USA's second sweep in the tournament has them at the top of the Pool D standings with six points and, with that, they can no longer be caught by either Colombia, who have no points or wins, or Portugal, who could match the Americans' six points and two wins in the third round, but would still be behind in the set ratio tie-breaker. With that, the Europeans will dispute the second spot in the Round of 16 with Cuba, which earlier on Monday defeated Colombia 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-20).

Gabriel Garcia and Jordan Ewert were the most important pieces in the American offense against the Portuguese, registering 12 points each - the opposite had eight kills, two blocks and two aces, while the outside hitter had 11 kills and one block. Outside hitter Ethan Champlin added another ten, with eight kills and two aces.

"We knew that Portugal had a good side-out game, they're a crafty team with a lot of different shots, so we focused a lot on our blocking and defense today," libero Erik Shoji analyzed. "Our transition game wasn't perfect, but it was good enough to get us the points we needed to win the match. We won the first two matches now and continue to improve every day, so that's great."

On the Portuguese side, outside hitter Lourenço Martins was the most productive with 12 points (ten kills, one block, one ace). Opposite, José Pinto contributed nine, all in kills.

The ten-point gap in opponent errors (23 to 13) was, indeed, the biggest difference in favor of the Americans, who also outscored the Portuguese in kills (40 to 36) and blocks (eight to five) - each team fired four aces.

Pool D's match schedule will be completed in Pasay City on Wednesday, with Portugal playing Colombia at 10:00 local time and NORCECA rivals the United States and Cuba meeting later, at 17:30.