Iranian Coach believes match was dificult after beating Canada - Volleyball
The Iranian Men’s Junior Volleyball squad posted a straight set win over the Canadian team in the opening match of the 2011 FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship on Monday, August 1. Iran built a score of 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, and 25-20) and walked away winnners
and on top of their pool.
The Head Coach, Jovica Cvetkovic, was the man behind the Iranian success in the first match. He worked out a great game-plan and strategy, in order to tackle the Canadian team. However, victory didn’t come easy for Iran. Cvetkovic said that the match against
Canada was difficult but Iran made the difference by using good attack and defence tactics in the match.
The match was hosted by the Brazilian city of Niteroi. A good number of Canadian fans were present at the match venue to support their team.
Iran kicked off with powerful serves in the first set and tried to take control of the game. Canadian team was down with a lot of errors and suffered the set-back. At the first technical timeout, Iran led the score by 8-3. Furthermore, they kept on hitting
shots in the gaps and widened the difference of points. They made next jumps to 15-6 and 18-12. Canadian team failed to bring a change in the game and dropped opening set with 6 points’ margin (25-19).
The success in opening set allowed Iranian squad to start the second set in a great style. They picked up 2-point lead at the first technical timeout. Meanwhile, Canadian team attacked with Nicholas Hoag and tried to chase the score. He attempted some nice
shots but Iranian blockers had difficulty dealing with the tricky bump passes. Anyhow Canadian players couldn’t keep up the same potential and had to suffer the loss of another set in the match.
Iran was in better position to go for match victory after winning two sets. Team Canada offered solid blocking to Iranian spikes in third set and tied the score at 10-all. It didn’t post a scare of defeat on Iran anyway. They regained the better status and
pushed Canada behind. In the end, Iran pulled off success in the opening match by claiming third set in a row.
Amir Ghafour of Iran was the top-scorer of the match. He added 11 points via nine kills and 2 aces. Pourya Fayazi made a contribution of 10 points on seven kills, one block and two aces. On the other side, Canadian Nicholas Hoag clipped eight points on seven
kills and one ace.
The team captain of Canada, Tyler Sanders stated: "It was our first time at a world championship. We were nervous. I don't think we came out with the passion of our previous matches. They played very well. We lost the team ‘momentum’ and became very individual."
The Iranian Captain, Farhad Salafzoon, called it a good match as they got to know about Canadian team. He said: “It was the first match for us and we didn't know much about Canada. We learned more about Canada in the first set. This was a very important
match and a very hard match."
Georges Laplante, Canadian coach acknowledged the better game plan of Iran. He commented that his players were nervous and couldn’t perform well. However, he hoped for improvement in the coming matches.
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