Manavi gets congratulated by teammates on a successful play
Tehran, Iran, June 11, 2017 -
Mohammadjavad Manavinezhad came in as a sub for
Iran and lived up to the expectations coach
Igor Kolakovic had from him. The fans in Tehran were also pleased with the home squad’s 3-2 (29-27, 25-20, 20-25, 23-25, 15-11) victory over
Argentina in a 2017 FIVB Volleyball World League clash.
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Manavi was on fire stringing up 26 points to become the best scorer of the match. His teammate
Milad Ebadipour Ghara H. also impressed with 22 points on his tally, as many as
Cristian Poglajen scored for Argentina (including four aces).
This was Iran’s third victory over Argentina in three matches played in the history of the World League. All three of them finished after five sets of play.
The opening set started with the teams going point for point with Argentina winning a long rally to reach 8-6. Argentina increased the gap to 16-12 by the second technical time-out. With two substitutions putting Manavi and
Farhad Salafzoon into play, Iran soon managed to decrease the margin to 18-19. The error of
Alexis Gonzalez made it a 21-21 tie, accompanying the excitement of the home crowd. A very long challenge asked by the Iranian team gave a long halt to the match as the referees were sceptical over a very critical point, which later was accepted. The rally went point for point with no team willing to give away an inch.
Nicolas Bruno shone in attack for Argentina while Manavi did great in reception. Finally, he led his team to a 29-27 win in the set.
Iran started the second set in much brighter fashion and led by 8-6 at the first technical time-out, then building a four-point lead at 19-15 and comfortably closing out the set at 25-20.
The astonishing services of Poglajen continued as Argentina led by 16-13. The South Americans further silenced the fans breaking away with a 22-17 advantage. With the excellent pairing of
Sebastian Sole and
Santiago Darraidou, Argentina closed the set at 25-20.
In the fourth set, Iran revived their hopes as they took an 8-5 lead at the first technical time out. The Argentineans kept their cool in a crucial moment to come back to a 10-10 tie, before storming 20-17 ahead with successive successful attempts by
Pablo Crer at the net. The home crowd raised the roof as Argentina reached the set point at 24-22, hoping the help their own recover, but the set was sealed at 25-23 Argentina’s way.
The fight continued in the tie-break. Iran started well taking a 7-3 lead and continued to control their nerves better as they finished the set at 15-11 and rejoiced with the victory.