TLAXCALA, MEXICO — Ricardo Galindo waved his hands, commanding the few thousand fans crammed into the Apizaco Bullring to get on their feet, to unleash the spirited and cerveza-fueled cheers Mexican beach volleyball fans have become so known for. He pumped his fists. Hugged his partner. A big moment.
Except for the fact that it was just four points into the match.
At that juncture of the opening set, a 3-1 lead for Mexico, it could have been seen as a sort of adorable moment, the massive underdog — Galindo and his partner, Isaias Aguirre, the 40 seed matched up with Brazil’s Evandro and Arthur, No. 11 in the world — claiming the spotlight that would, surely, inevitably, shift to Brazil. Forty minutes down the road, a similar scene was playing out in the Tlaxcala Bullring, where Italians Sam Cottafava and Paolo Nicolai were opening their World Championships against Mexico’s Gabriel Cruz and Jorge Barajas. Cruz blocked Cottafava on the opening point of the match, a 1-0 lead. Like Galindo, he commanded the crowd, waving them to their feet. Like in Apizaco, the crowd willingly obliged.
Bedlam.
Shortlived.
Cottafava and Nicolai would ignore that first point and go about their business in a 21-9, 21-11 thrashing. Most watching the two matches side by side could have anticipated a parallel storyline. Only Galindo and Aguirre wouldn’t go away. In fact, they did just the opposite, extending their lead to 7-2, a lead they’d sustain, all the way to 21-17.
Great teams lose sets all the time. Even Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum will drop a puzzler from time to time. For Evandro and Arthur to snooze through an opening set to an overmatched team, in the biggest tournament of the year, in a night match, against Mexico, in Mexico — well, crazier things have happened.
Few crazier things have happened than the second set.
An 11-7 Brazil lead disappeared in a cloud of blocks and errors. A 12-12 tie soon became, unbelievably once more, a Mexico lead, and then a Mexico win, a 21-17, 21-18 shocker, perhaps the biggest upset I’ve seen in nearly a decade following the sport.
It begs multiple questions, first and foremost: Who in the world are Ricardo Galindo and Isaias Aguirre?
NORCECA guys, in short.
Galindo and Aguirre have played three NORCECAs together in the last three years. They have been slightly better than bad, finishing tenth in Aguascalientes, Mexico,…
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