TEHRAN – Iran national volleyball team lost to the Netherlands in their second match in the 2022 Volleyball Nations League (VNL) Pool 1 in Brasilia, Brazil, on Friday. It was the first defeat of the young Iranian team in the tournament.

The defeat provoked a lot of discussions about the performance of Behrouz Ataei's side in the VLN.

Behnam Mahmoudi, Iranian volleyball expert, has suggested that the side need more time to become a formidable team in the near future.

“The Iranian volleyball generation has been transformed, and new faces have been added to the team. They need time to coordinate and improve further,” said Mahmoudi in his exclusive interview with Tehran Times.

“However, I believe that the change should have taken place gradually in the next three or four years.

“Behrouz Atai's efforts to make these changes and bring young players are commendable, and he should be supported.

“In addition, you should not forget that the Iranian national volleyball team have several injured players who have missed this tournament or are not eligible to represent Iran, and Ataei has a difficult job of replacing those players with the new ones,” he added.

“I emphasize that this team need the support of the volleyball federation, Iranian sports officials, media, and volleyball fans. Ataei's has a difficult job ahead and needs more time to work more and more with his side,” said the 51-year-old coach.

“We have good players like Amirhossein Esfandiar and Amin Esmaeilnejhad in the current team and they could be among the best in Asia. Also, we have great stars in our volleyball and the current players should follow in the footsteps of them.

“The truth is that after Iran's victory in the first game against China, I also said that our team did not play very well. I hope we will achieve the best performance step by step in the League of Nations, and the Iranian team will achieve good results in this tournament,” he concluded.