More Experience Needed to Play Teams Like Brazil: Volleyball Coach Igor Kolakovic

Iran national volleyball team was defeated against Brazil 3-1 (25-27, 25-21, 27-25, 25-22) at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup on Sunday.

“We always enjoy volleyball when we play against Brazil because we have an opportunity to play against one of the best teams in the world. And for that reason, we have really good motivation all the time, (whether) we play with younger players or experienced players,” Kolakovic said.

“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 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,” he added.

“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. 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,” the Iran coach declared.