2026 World Championships Bronze Medal Match | USA 🇺🇸 vs Japan 🇯🇵 | Men s Team Foil | Full Match

It's going to hit first, the light will go on, it will look like it's his. But as long as it's not always continuous, which the referee says he was, he gets the right away. Homer didn't fence in the individual, it was Saito, they brought him in just for the team event. He did a feint attack into the chest, to the inside line there, and hit directly right in the middle of the piece. The USA will be seeing this one as an opportunity. He's for sure a team specialist. The USA are going to be thinking, we want to have what, four, five point lead? I would think so, certainly what you just said is key. They're keying in on this particular leg. Oh no, just stepping off the side of the piece, just to concede a metre of ground to the USA's Nicky Kim. So we talked about right of way earlier on, Nicky got the right of way by hitting his opponent's blade. Oh no, says, oh no, please go and have a look at that one. It's actually a counter riposte, it was the release of the riposte by Ono that hit, and that's why, you see the referee made the signal, one parry and then the other parry, there were two big blade meetings here. Usually he goes fast fast, that time he did slow fast. A counter attack gets the USA over the line, we are a third of the way through the match, and the USA have a handsome six point lead, and that was a very very good leg for the USA. The United States has made a substitution here, Bryce Louis the reserve is in for Marcelo Olivares, because, whether it's tactical or because they felt Olivares just didn't have it, but they can always bring Olivares back in in the third leg. So it does say Marcelo, well that just changed, it did say Marcelo Olivares. Technical engineer has managed to change that. USA substitute on for leg number four, United States of America is leading by six points in the match, but Matsuyama Kiyosuki gets the first point. Louis made the attack to the leg, Louis is perpetual motion, frenetic energy, and he's trying to bring some energy. Matsuyama's attack, because he's the one that moves forward, but that beat there from the USA man gave him the right of way. Coupe for those in the know. Look. Look please. Ready? Go. Look. We're about to find out. You're not going to give us your thoughts on it? Now you can't give your thoughts, because the decision's been made and the hit has gone to Bryce Louis. But what we did see there on that replay, I really wasn't sure, is that Louis is attacked to the low line underneath, and that's in that area he has to stay away from, because he was parried very easily. Oh, Louis got away with that one. He attacked from out of distance too quickly, and didn't hit Matsuyama, didn't hit on the Karateka, and Louis continued. That target area you were saying he shouldn't go through there, and he missed. It was blocked out beautifully by Matsuyama. He just took his time there with the riposte. Yeah, that's the target. That's the spot that he can't go to. The shoulder is where it can be effective, but not down there. Louis also goes at 100 miles an hour all the time, and part of the tactics of fencing is you want to change the speed, slow, fast. Think of baseball. If the pitcher always throws 100 miles an hour, the batters can catch up to him. If you change the speeds, that's when you're effective. What's baseball? That stopped Jeff in his tracks. About the speed, he did then just slow down just a little bit on coming in, and that's what made the difference. Effectively on top of Matsuyama. Full point for Matsuyama, 4-4 Louis in this particular leg. No net gain for the Japanese. They were not definitely looking for that in this particular leg. Flick across the body, typical left versus righty kind of hit. It's an opportunity here for Matsuyama. Try to get a few before they get to 20. There's the same action car, that faint coupé to the chest, but no, it didn't hit that time. Matsuyama to get the hits that Jeff was talking about, and he closed the gap up. And the USA substitute has done a great job. USA leading 20-14. Well, that was a great job by Bryce Louis off the bench. And that was an opportunity potentially missed for Japan. We have another substitution here. Ono is out and Baba is in. Both teams have thrown in their faulty weapons. A little unusual, because mostly the weapons are checked off-piste before they come out. Matsuyama will change his weapon. Normally, if you come off the piste with a faulty weapon, you would get a yellow card. But because they are checked backstage, Matsuyama doesn't get it. They do that not only to control the weapons to make sure that they pass, but also to save time, so we don't have to see the referees checking them. Egg number five of the men's foil team bronze medal match. USA leading Japan at 20 points to 14. Japanese substitute making a difference straight away against Alexander Martialis. So, Karim, this is a really important one for the United States, because we looked at the last one, there was an opportunity for Matsuyama against the substitute. Here, it's Martialis, the best fencer, the strongest fencer, against the substitute. That's amazing. With his long arms and everything, from in close, he's able to hit from anywhere. Yellow card for covering his target with the mask. Substitution of an invalid target for a valid target. Let's watch the mask on the left. I don't think he got carded for using his head to block. No hit for Martialis. Classic Martialis angled hit. Absolutely stunning. He's hitting a very small piece of target on his left shoulder. He is amazing. Puts the green light on all the time. He's so quick. He's able to score a single light and get away. From the target score. Great start from Baba, getting the first point. Since then, Martialis has got control of his weapon. Has to stop the bout. ...himself. ...the loss of weapon. ...because they were incredulous at that. Look at the pusher. You can see. You can understand why he felt that way. Surrendering his weapon. They kick him. Not happy with it because he can't alight it. Can't forget to have a look at it here. It does look like the point has gone into the target. The war wolf came up from the United States box, not the Japanese box. The replay was very clear. They did get the right call. Change of weapon for Nick Inkin. He got two key jabs. He had hit the one that he replaced. The potential reason for it not working is because there's not enough of that yellow tape. That's all right, because if you hit with that, it could block out. Missed that time, though. ...the first one. ...with the off-target light, so he could be outside of that well-made jacket. ...the valid target area. Disappointed. Itomura set up the attack, pushed Itkin to his side of the piste, saw the opening. Watch right now and see why he missed. Itkin stepped in, and he just went by the inside target. Oh, Itkin misses on his attack, misses on his remise, and somehow Itomura is not only able to score a point, he learned to get out of the way of the second remise. But this is the first attack it misses. He pushes on, misses again, and Itomura somehow got away with that one. He got away with it for sure. He launched himself there. ...preparation. ...point lead remains for the United States of America. Target score of 30. Itkin attacked into preparation. Itomura was waiting with the carry block, and he made the riposte. Missed the remise by Itkin. USAF bossing things in the counter. Well, Itomura attacked under the arm in the flank, and Itkin dropped his arm there, blocked it out, was able to hit him in the counterattack. Missed it in the end, and here Itomura waited as long as he possibly could before changing lines at the last minute. They need a few more though. This is going to be two thirds of the way through the match, and Japan are in a spot of bother. Riposte for Nick Itkin of the United States of America, and after six of nine legs, the USA have a handsome 10-point lead. That was some final action there by Nick Itkin. It was a second counter riposte. Let's watch. Riposte, no. There's a counter riposte. Yes! The running order of the matches so far doesn't show the impression of Boris from Louis, and Ono is back in for Baba in the same position. And there's Louis exploding off the mark. He's a momentum fencer. A lot of fencers are like that, but when Louis gets going, he revs it up. He really gets the team going. It's the counter riposte by Louis. Video appeal called by Ono. We can measure, roughly measure, the individual athletes' performances over the course of the match by what we call an indicator. That's the number of hits you've scored less the number of hits that have been scored against you. When you look at Macialis, he's on a plus nine indicator, meaning he's scored nine more hits. Itkin on a plus four. Both Ono and Louis are sharing the points in their efforts so far. That hurts. And Louis' last action was disallowed because he covered target with his back arm, so he got a yellow card. You'll have one centimeter bend in your foil. This appears to be bent a little bit more than it is right now. The halt as far as the referee is concerned. Once the referee calls halt, no new action can begin. But you also have the ability to angle it in maybe a little bit differently. Jumping around there. He got hit on the leg, I think. Let's see what happened to him here. Oops. Got hit on the thigh. Try as they might, Japan unable to close this gap on the United States of America. They are looking very strong for a place on the podium here. They need a spark. Japan needs a spark. And the question is if it's going to come and who it will come from. It's a funny one, isn't it? Because the coach is talking to him the whole time throughout the whole match. It's constantly, it's non-stop. But he did not use it. He stepped in with the counteraction. Because Ono missed, it's a single right hit for the USA. Target score of 35 in the seventh leg. Nice parry from the Japanese athlete there over the shoulder. Haven't played anything of it just yet. Whoa, what a riposte there by Lui. Let's watch him to the back. Wham. That's hit Ono on the back of his left shoulder, isn't it? Oh boy. That's a huge circusing split onto the back. Look, please. Look. The masks. Look. Yes, come on. Ah, the right attack. Look. Yes, come on. Ah, it's the right attack. Look. Yes, come on. Ah, the left attack. Look. Yes, come on. Ah, it's both of them. Simultaneous. Video. When you say a double, you mean simultaneous. Simultaneous, yes. Sorry. We're going to have epee later on, so... I'm trying to get into the epee mode. Look. Wait. Go. He's having a look at this, but I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe the Japanese athlete asked for a video review, but I can't see him getting this one. I'm not sure what the review is for. It's not the action. It was a call from Ono, but he did not get it going his way. And the United States of America lead by 10 going into the last two bouts. So it's going to be an uphill battle, for sure. Matsuyama has to start off here. Very often, a team will put their touch-scoring machine in the 8th spot specifically for this reason, that if they're down a lot, someone who's capable of getting a lot of touches in bunches, you put them there. Yes, come on. Nikitkin of the United States of America on the right-hand side going up against a man that Japan will be looking at to score the epee. Look. Yes, come on. The right-hand attack. Look. Yes. The attack is still here. Look. Yes. Come on. The right-hand attack. Touch. Score. Look. Yes. Come on. Nice riposte by Matsuyama. Look. Yes. Come on. Look. Yes. Come on. Look. Yes. Come on. The right-hand attack. Touch. Yes. Come on. The right-hand attack. Look. Yes. Come on. The attack. No. As you mentioned, once Matsuyama has opened it up, they've never looked back. Yellow card for covering with the mask or blocking with the mask and the touch of the nose. Come on. The attack. No. Matsuyama hasn't been able to get going here. I think part of it is because if he's keeping that close distance, he only retreated once off the line. Yes. Come on. The attack. No. There you go. Look. Yes. Come on. The attack. No. The riposte. Disappointed body language by Matsuyama. He tried to make the parrying riposte. I think he stood up out of it. Maybe it caused him to miss. And the remise for Itken. Look. Yes. Come on. Beautiful parry riposte to finish the job off for Nick Itken. And he extends the USA's lead to 14 points going into the final leg. Iemura Kazuki will come on for Japan and he's got a mighty task because he's up against the number one in the USA team, Alexander Macialis. Well, this is an uphill battle on steroids to say the least. Anger. Yes. Come on. A massive lead here as Iemura comes out on the attack. But somehow, Macialis able to fashion a counteraction right on the back line. I'd like to see this replay. How does he do it? Let's see how he did it. Look at this. That was parried. Again, creating that angle. I think I just tore my rotator cuff watching that. That was exceptionally close. Just on the top of the bicep. There's an off-target right for Alexander Macialis on the counter. This is what Japan need. They need Iemura to just go all out. Just go for it. Go down fighting. Absolutely. Go down fighting for sure. Oh. Leg straightening, bending. It's amazing that he still gets the light on target. Almost every time. Amazing. Go. Ready. Go. Stop. No attack. Go. Stop. No attack. Macialis attacks. Go. Clearly, Iemura went for it. We saw that. Referees acknowledge that. Macialis initiated it. If there's one meeting of the blades, he gets the right of way. Go. Stop. No attack. No counterattack. Go. Stop. Go. Stop. Go. Stop. Attack. No valid. Go. Stop. No valid. Go. Attack. No. Counterattack. Go. Ready. Stop. No attack. Counterattack. Go. Ready. Go. And there it is on the counter-attack, Alexander Macialis anchors the United States of America to a fabulous bronze medal here at the World Championships. They would have been disappointed with their semi-final loss, but they've come back out onto the podium piste here in Hong Kong to claim the bronze medal.