iran wins the semi-final against the host with authority even though
they did not have a great day offensively.but their blocking of the short
japan team saved the day and the 3 points are in the bag.
next up in the final is china.much more height than japan and a better
team overall.they are coming off a tough 2-3 loss to poland which means
they are as tired if not more tired than the the iranian boys.iran needs to
find it's offensive rhythm back and they need #10 for this match to put
pressure on chinese blockers.it's not going to be easy but iran should win
it since they got the better coaching.
iran wins the final and it was not easy.they started brightly and won the first
set but had a mental lapse in the middle of the 2nd set and lost it.the 3rd set
was the easiest for iran and they won it with authority.but again they failed to
respond in the 4th set and lost it badly.the 5th set started by iran going up 3
points but they gave up the lead and had to concentrate and work hard to win
decisive set.i thought the coach did very good subs.his standard sub of the regular
setter and spiker with reserves after point 20 is spot on.#13 has been error less in
serving and is a good setter same with #16 in serving and both add more height
to blocking.he makes no errors.they go by stats and percentages when it comes down
to the final points so he is doing the right thing.
iran has virtually qualified since the number of wins is the first criteria.iran has 4 wins
and australia and china have 2 each with 2 matches remaining.they play the first game
tonight and one will be eliminated.all iran needs to do is to beat the win less venezuela in
the last match and they can book their tickets to rio.or beat the already qualified poland
tonight.i think the former is more likely.and even if they lose both matches they still have
better ratio than both china and australia at the moment and they need a miracle to catch
up with iran.