Nagano, Japan, October 6, 2019 - Brazil came from a set down to beat Iran 3-1 (25-27, 25-21, 27-25, 25-22) at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup on Sunday, maintaining their perfect record to make it five wins from five at Nagano White Ring arena.
Brazil coach Renan Dal Zotto: “I am very happy about today’s victory. Matches between Iran and Brazil are always very difficult and we could expect that Iran would be a tough opponent. They are very good at digging and all kind of defence, and they do not make a lot of mistakes. That is why we are so pleased with this victory, and the points they gave us. In my view, Iran has a very good combination of young players and more experienced players, and their level as a whole team has improved very much. At the same time, Brazil also gave some young players experience in this match, which was very good for us.”
On winning five in a row, and their next opponents Argentina:
“Five victories is very important for us, but we are still in the middle of a long tournament so we can’t say anything yet about what will happen at the end or whether we will become champions. All I can say now is that we must keep our focus and intensity. If we allow ourselves to relax too much it will be a disaster for us. We are aware that (Argentina) are a very good team. We played against them a few months ago and won 3-2, but the level of the Argentina team has improved a great deal, which is why we can’t be too relaxed after these five victories. We will analyse the data and watch videos to make sure we are ready for the next match.”
Brazil captain Bruno Rezende: “First of all we are happy because we needed these three points. I think the Iranian team have a really good generation, and they create this mix with young players and experienced (players). They are a great team, it is never easy playing against them. They have a very good defensive system, they never give up, it’s always really difficult to play against them. I think we were a little bit nervous at the beginning of the game. I think today we didn’t play so well in our defence, a lot of tips and everything that we didn’t defend. But we have to manage these ups and downs and play even better in the next phase. We did our job here in Nagano. I think we have to improve – I have to improve on our counter-attacks, we had many counter attacks and I think I didn’t play so well. There are things that we have to improve, but I’m really happy and proud because our team once again, even with this nervousness, we played and we won.”
Iran coach Igor Kolakovic: “We always enjoy volleyball when we play against Brazil because we have an opportunity to play against one of the best – well the best – in the world. And for that reason we have really good motivation all the time, (whether) we play with younger players or experienced players. Tonight it was a pity that we didn’t take this (win) against Brazil, it would have been so important for us, for our confidence – even though we can be satisfied with this game. It was a really tough game against Brazil. If I can say, we lost tonight because we need more experience to play a game like this. More experience in some players, in the end they lost their power or strength because they played three or four games continuously. Congratulations to Brazil and good luck until the end of this tournament.”
On the team’s performance in the tournament so far:
“First I must say that this season is so long for us and so difficult, because we have played all the time with 14 or 16 players starting in the beginning of April. Playing VNL, final of VNL, after that qualification for the Olympics in Tokyo, and after that the Asian Championship. Then after a few days of finishing the Asian Championship we arrived here and it was such a difficult period for us. Most of the players were so tired, some have chronic injuries, some of them got injured here – like Farhad Ghaemi. Our goal is to say to the players to be ready to go to their clubs in good health and good mentality. It’s also mentally so difficult for all of us. Also, the goal is for some young players to have the opportunity to play for us, to play, to enjoy volleyball here against strong teams, and fight for all the balls. To give opportunities to young players and save some experienced players to be ready for the next period in their clubs and after that the national team.”
Iran captain Mir Saeid Marouflakrani: “I think this was a tough game, and I think on the other side the Brazilians didn’t expect this performance from our team. Our young players fought very well and put pressure on the Brazilian players. In the end I don’t think it was enough for victory, but on the other side it was one of the best teams in the world, so I think we should be satisfied with this performance by the team.”