Volleyball Nations League:
Iran coach Piazza wary of tough job in Week 3
Iran head coach Roberto Piazza said his team will have to brace for “a tough week ahead” as they resume action at the Volleyball Nations League on Wednesday.
Sitting 10th in the 18-team table on a 4-4 record, Piazza’s men will take on European powerhouse Poland in their first outing in the third and final week of the preliminary round in Gdansk.
The two sides met in a warmup game in the Polish city of Olsztyn on Saturday, with the home side – second in the VNL table with six wins – coming out victorious in straight sets (26-24, 25-20, 25-21) before Iran won an additional fourth set 25-20.
“We had an average first set and were close to them, though I still believe we have a lot to learn from the Polish team. They’re truly among the world’s elite and can instantly find the right solutions throughout the game,” Piazza said after the game.
“We were aware of some of these challenges beforehand. But now we truly understand how much work lies ahead and, of course, our goal is to put in that hard work,” added the Italian.
A second game in Week 3 for Iran will come against China on Thursday, followed by an encounter against Olympic champion France on Saturday.
Iran will hope to be in contention for a top-seven finish in the table and a place in the VNL Finals when squaring off against Bulgaria in the final round of the preliminaries on Sunday.
“We’ll have to prepare differently for each game, as our first game against Poland will be played at 8:00 p.m. and the second one will come on 4:30 p.m. the following day – leaving us with little recovery time between the two games.
“So, we’ll need to completely reset our mindset. We’ll have one day to rest, then play again at 8:30 p.m. against France before the final match at 5:00 p.m. against Bulgaria the next day.
“Overall, we have a tough week ahead. We know exactly what we want. Our fate is in our hands – if we want it, we can achieve it. But we need to take it day by day, not think about the whole week at once. So, our first challenge is the match against Poland,” Piazza said.
Looking to progress to the Finals for the first time since 2022, Iran got off to a slow start in the competition under the new Italian coach, suffering successive defeats against Brazil (3-0), USA (3-2), and Slovenia (3-2), before salvaging a five-set win against Ukraine in the final Week 1 game in Rio de Janeiro.
The Asian powerhouse, however, delivered much-improved displays in the second week of action, defeating Serbia in four sets in Belgrade, before claiming victories against Argentina (3-1) and the Netherlands (3-2) either side of a 3-1 loss to Germany.