Cuba's men's volleyball team will face the Dominican Republic today in one of the two semifinal matches of the Pre-Olympic tournament in Moncton, Canada, where it will seek the victory that guarantees it a place in tomorrow's final and a chance to fight for the berth that the tournament awards to the winner for Los Angeles 2028.

After completing its rest day and securing this Wednesday, at the same venue, the bronze medal and one of the three direct tickets to the 2027 World Championship at the North, Central America and Caribbean Continental Championship (Norceca), Jesús Cruz's disciples will try to achieve their main goal ahead of the U.S. multi-sport event with the long-awaited win against the Dominicans, whom they defeated 3-0 in the battle for the bronze medal.

Although they cannot afford to be overconfident, the Cubans enter Friday's match as favorites, just as they did when they beat the Dominicans with set scores of 25-22, 25-19 and 26-24.

Official team statistics reflected better results for the Cubans in attack, 44 points to 30, while they were even in blocking (11-11) and superior in serving (9-3), and they tied in their own errors (12-12).

Individually, Miguel Angel López stood out for Cuba with 14 points, followed by Roberlandi Simon and Marlón Yant (11) and Alejandro Miguel Gonzalez Rodriguez (10).

In addition to the bronze medal and the World Championship berth, three of its players were named to the tournament's ideal team, with Christian Thondike as best setter, Miguel Ángel López as second-best attacker, and Alexis Wilson as best blocker.

In the other semifinal match, Canada and Mexico will be in action.

It should be recalled that the United States, champion after defeating the hosts in the recently concluded Norceca Continental Championship, does not appear among the four teams currently involved, as it has already secured its Olympic presence by virtue of being the host country.

The 14 Cubans present at the Norceca Pre-Olympic tournament are setters Christian Thondike and Ronaldo Flaquet, opposites Alejandro Rodríguez and Daniel Martínez, and middle blockers Robertlandy Simón, Alexis Wilson, David Fiel and Thiago Suárez.

The squad is completed by outside hitters Miguel Ángel López, Marlon Yant, Osniel Mergarejo and Yusniel Martí, and liberos Lázaro Arrechea and Yonder García.

The Cuban team arrived in Canada after playing several friendly and preparation matches, especially the four-nation tournament held in Italy, where it finished undefeated in its three outings.

In its last match, it defeated Brazil at the PalaRescifina in Messina by a score of 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-23 and 25-18), after overcoming Germany and the host Italians.

Against the Germans, the victory was 3-2 (25-23, 25-23, 20-25, 21-25 and 21-19), but at the Reggio Calabria venue, while against the hosts it was in Messina, 3-2 (25-22, 21-25, 16-25, 25-19 and 15-13), in that order.

The squad at that time consisted of setters Christian Manuel Thondike Mejías and Julio Alberto Gómez Gálvez, attackers Nivaldo Nadhir Días Gómez, Marlon Yant Herrera and Miguel Ángel López Castro, and middle blockers David Fiel Rodríguez, Robertlandy Simón Aties, Thiago Suárez Mendoza and Alexis Wilson Velázquez.

The team was completed by opposites Alejandro Miguel González Rodríguez and José Israel Masso Álvarez, and liberos Yonder García Álvarez and Lázaro Arrechea Najarro.

Previously, Cruz's pupils participated in another preparation and friendly tournament in Russia, where they closed with a 3-0 win against the local squad at a venue in Ufa, capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan.

The set scores were 25-22, 34-32 and 25-20, a result with which they ended the event with a balance of two wins and one loss.

They also defeated Belarus 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 27-25 and 25-21), but later lost 0-3 (16-25, 19-25 and 22-25) against Iran.

The Cuban national team arrived in Bashkortostan after splitting honors, in both cases in five sets, in preparation matches against Dinamo LO in Sosnovy Bor, a city in the Leningrad region.

First they fell with set scores of 25-21, 23-25, 25-21, 15-25 and 12-15, but later they got even with scores of 25-20, 25-27, 25-19, 23-25 and 15-11, very good results against a highly competitive squad.