Shaky start for USA in second round of 2011 FIVB Boys’ Youth World Championship
Iran posted a 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-16, and 25-18) win over USA in the second round opener of the 2011 FIVB Boys’ Youth World Championship on Wednesday, August 24. The thrilling encounter was hosted by the Argentinean city of Almirante Brown. With the victory
against the American team, Iran keeps its hopes alive for the 9-16 places with three wins achieved. On the other hand, USA lags behind in the whole tournament.
Pourya Fayazi of Iran played an instrumental role in his team’s success and totalled 25 points on 17 spikes, five blocks and three aces. Benjamin Patch was the highest scorer on the American side. He tallied 18 points and struggled to hold back his opponent.
Nonetheless, Iran surpassed the Americans in both blocking (14-8) and serving (8-3), and grabbed success.
First set of the match was a close fight. The scoreboard showed a minimum lead of 8-7 by Iran at the first technical timeout. Iranian hotshot Fayazi did a great job and carried his side to a 16-10 margin. On the other side of the net, Aaron Russell was equally
active. He supported his side and tried to shorten the difference of points. American efforts went futile when Iran closed off the first set with 25-21.
Iran managed to drag the opponents under pressure and picked up a 2-point lead in the second set 8-6. The U.S. team had a difficult time dealing with the fast spikes of Shahab Ahmadi, 5 in the game, and Javad Hosseinabadi. As a result, Iran jumped to a 16-13
advantage but USA was saving the best for the very end. The U.S. duo of Patch and Scott Rhein stormed Iranian court with ground-breaking shots near the end and turned the game upside down. USA created the tie of 1-1 by winning the second 25-22.
Behrouz Ataei Nouri, the head coach of Iran, brought in Milad Ebadipour in the third set. The new comer delivered strong shots and led his team to a 25-16 win in third set. The U.S. team was again in trouble as their chances of victory seemed to be squeezed.
Fayazi of Iran was a key player in the fourth set. He didn’t allow his opponents to go up and the USA trailed behind and dropped the fourth set while Iran announced match victory.
The Head Coach of American Team, Ken Shibuya, shared his thoughts after the match. He stated: "Iran is a very experienced team. The current pool is more difficult than the one we had at the beginning. Benjamin Patch did very well today".
Nouri, the mentor of victorious Iranian squad, was delighted about his team’s achievement in the second round. Meanwhile, the skipper for Iran, Fayazi, also expressed his views about the match. He commented,
"We played against a great team, we did it very well. As we said in the first round, our goal now is to play better and better and I think we're doing it".
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