FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship:
Iran’s last-four dreams shattered by Czechia heartbreak
Iran’s fairy tale run at the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship came to an end following a last-eight defeat against Czechia in Pasay City, Philippines, on Thursday.
Roberto Piazza’s men gave away a one-set lead to suffer a 3-1 loss (22-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-21) and miss out on a maiden semifinal spot at the flagship international event of the sport.
Czechia managed to recover from Iran’s fiery start to the first set that got the Asian powerhouse to an early five-point advantage, but still made far too many unforced errors that allowed Iran to come out as set winner with opposite Ali Hajipour pounding the closing point from the back row.
The defining moment of the contest perhaps came in the closing stages of the second set when Iranian captain and outside-hitter Morteza Sharifi, with his team leading 22-20, missed an absolute sitter, spiking the undefended ball wide, and Czechia capitalized to level the match at 1-1.
That completely shifted the momentum in Czechia’s favor as the European side went on to win the next two sets to set up a last-four date with Bulgaria, which pulled off a sensational comeback to beat USA in a five-set thriller (21-25, 19-25, 25-17, 25-22, 15-13) later in the day.
When asked what made the difference between the two sides at end, Piazza said: “I think everyone in the team exactly know about that moment. We have to grow up a lot on the mental side, I knew that before and I know it now. We have to improve the technical aspect of our game, we need to be better on serving, we need to be better everywhere. The most important thing is that when you are leading in a game, you need to be able to finish off the game. This is the lesson that we need to understand. After that, they deserved it because they played an amazing game, on block, defense, transition. They were really good after that moment.
“I’m still so proud of my guys, because there are 11 new players in the team, but I know we have to work a lot.”
Asked if the whole campaign makes him exited for the future of his team, the Italian replied, “I was excited when I decided to take this job, and I’m excited now. I know exactly that there are a lot of talents, but that is not enough to reach any goal. We need to work hard, and we also need to be patient, and at the same time strong, on the court.”
Czechia outperformed Iran in attack by 56-54 in spike kills and in net defense by 7-5 in kill blocks, but the biggest difference came from the fewer unforced errors – 25 against 31. Opposite Patrik Indra showed a great efficiency in offense, swinging at a 69% success rate. He also fired a couple of aces towards a match-high total of 22 points. Outside hitter Lukas Vasina came a close second with 21 points, including one ace and one kill block. He registered a 61% success rate in attack.
Iran delivered seven aces in the match, against Czechia’s five. Young outside Pouriya Hosseinkhanzadeh authored three of those and spiked at a 54% success rate towards a team-high 18 points to match the tally of Hajipour, who signed off with three kill blocks and a 65% success rate in attack. Sharifi also reached the double digits with 11 points, including two aces.