FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship:
Iran hammers host to set last-four date with USA
Iran marched to a straight-set victory (25-21, 25-16, 25-15) over China on Friday to progress to the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship semifinals in the Chinese city of Jiangmen.
Awaiting Iran in today’s last-four clash is USA, which came from behind twice to edge out France in a five-set thriller (21-25, 25-17, 22-25, 25-23, 15-12) earlier on Friday.
Middle-blocker Taha Behboudnia and outside-hitter Matin Hosseini contributed with 14 points apiece for Iran, with middle-blocker Armin Qelichniazi – the top scorer in the last-16 win against Argentina – chipping in 10 points.
Chinese opposite also finished on 14 points, while outside-hitter Zhiqiang Zhang scored nine for the host, which stepped onto the court fresh off a sensational fifth-set comeback victory over Japan in the quarterfinals.
Friday’s victory extended Iranian head coach Gholamreza Mo’menimoqaddam’s unbeaten run at the helm to a remarkable 26 games in competitive action, during which his team has claimed back-to-back Asian under-20 titles either side of the world U21 crown in 2023 in Manama.
“We had two analysis sessions before today’s game, and I am extremely pleased that the players did all I had asked them to in those meetings,” Mo’menimoqaddam said after the game.
“We scored 17 direct points on defense, which was exceptional. I think that was a record for this tournament.”
On today’s opponent, the Iranian coach said, “USA is a different team which knocked out one of the tournament favorites in France. The United States play with a strong system; they are a top-notch team with players of exceptional physique.
“However, we are Iran, and will face them with passion and pride, determined to reap the rewards of five months of hard work and training.
“Our ultimate goal is definitely beyond reaching the last four, but we’re taking it one game at a time,” added the Iranian. Iran began its title defense in Jiangmen with a 3-1 win against Kazakhstan and then defeated Puerto Rico (3-0), South Korea (3-2) Canada (3-0), and Poland (3-1) to finish atop the Pool B table, before coming out on top in four sets against Argentina on Wednesday.