The head coach of the American national team’s memories of his trip to Iran/ I liked a player – Mehr news agency Iran and world’s news
According to Mehr news agency, John Sparrow said about the meeting between the American and Turkish national volleyball teams, where his students could hardly cross the Turkish barrier: The game against Turkey was very difficult. There is always a challenge in the playoffs, especially when the expectations are higher than a team. Everyone thought we had the upper hand against Turkey, and that was true in the first two sets.
He continued: This changed from the third set and Turkey served well from the middle of the third set. This made them come back to the game and put a lot of pressure on our team. In general, I think we couldn’t respond to their performance well, but we made up for it in the fifth set and played a very difficult game, because the psychological pressure was also against America, but in the end we got a good result.
The head coach of the US national volleyball team said about the conditions of the Iranian team: The first time we played in the League of Nations, I did not know much about Iran. I have not seen these young players before, but it is natural that there are players in Brazil, Iran and other countries that we have not faced yet. Now, after the League of Nations, many of these young players are present and playing in this tournament.
Sprou added: I am very interested in the Iranian team and the talents that exist in this team. They have good talent, they have a lot of energy and I think they will be among the best teams in the world for many years.
In response to this question, he said that America did not have very good conditions in the tournament so far; Have you saved your energy for more important games? No, not at all, he clarified. I think we are more different than the team we were in the League of Nations. Anderson and Christensen were added to our team in week three. Now, these people have been playing together for a longer time. We are still far from our perfect performance and I think this will show in the future. I hope we get better; Better than the first game we played against Poland and hopefully we can play the volleyball we are really capable of playing.
The head coach of the US national volleyball team said about his prediction of the champion of this tournament: If you know, I know too! Lottery conditions have made it very difficult to predict. I think the draw for Iran was very challenging; Argentina, Serbia, Brazil and Iran have really made it difficult to predict. Poland also plays very good volleyball and we have a difficult game against them. In general, many draws are difficult, but Iran has a good chance. We are also going to play volleyball to see what happens.
Referring to his trip to Iran, Sprou said: I don’t remember what year I came to Iran, but we played in Tehran. It was part of the World League games. It was a great experience. I enjoyed it a lot, because it was very difficult to play in that atmosphere. The fans in Iran are the loudest crowd I have ever seen and it is very difficult to play there. I think it was very interesting for them to play against America and it was our first time there. We always talk about what the fans do for their team in Tehran. I hope we can travel to Iran again.
The head coach of the US national volleyball team stated that the Iranian spectators are wonderful and added: They support their team very well. Volleyball is a sport and going to Tehran and experiencing that atmosphere is great. Even Iranian fans abroad and even America are the same and support their team a lot. Whenever we play against Iran, we should know that it is a difficult game, because they travel to support their team so they can support their team. In any country we are in, there are many Iranian fans who are very loud and make our work difficult. Their support for the sport is truly to be respected.
He mentioned about Iranian players: Oh my God! One of the Iranian players who caught my attention and I did not know him was Amin (Ismailnejad). Iran now has a good woman behind the line and has the opportunity to be a good team. The next person is the captain of Iran, who leads this generation well, and as a result, the Iranian team is considered a very difficult team to play against.
Iran’s national volleyball team will face Brazil in the last match of the eighth round of the World Men’s Championship at 23:30 on Tuesday, September 15.