USSR vs. USA / Men’s Volleyball World Cup 1984

1984 Japan Cup – USA v USSR A few months after the 1984 Olympics, the gold medallists of the the previous two Olympics met in the Japan Cup. USA won in Los Angeles, while the USSR team was cooling its heels at home. USA definitely benefiting from the great rivals absence, but who would actually have won a full strength Olympic Volleyball tournament. A few months later the teams met in the Japan Cup in a match I have written briefly about once before. The match gives precious few clues about who might have won a Los Angeles match up, and gives some nice background for what happened when they met at the World Cup in 1985. Lineup – The USA team is missing Dvorak, playing in Italy, and Timmons, from a knee injury suffered a week earlier in Korea, from the Olympic team. Dvorak’s replacement Jeff Stork had apparently spent only two weeks with the team, which is apparent from some balls that get away from him. Timmons replacement was Mike Dodd who later found some measure of fame, and 12 years