TEHRAN - Iranian volleyball expert, Naser Shahnazi, criticized the technical staff of the Iran volleyball team for the defeat against the Netherland at the 2022 FIVB Men's World Championship.

Iran lost to the Netherlands 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-20, 25-18) in Pool F of the 2022 FIVB Men's World Championship Wednesday night.

“Before the start of the 2022 FIVB World Championship, we discussed in detail that the world championship are different from the Nations League and all the teams have great conditions in the event and bring their best squad to the tournament,” said Shahnazi in his interview with Tehran Times.

“Iran national team also invited some experienced players to participate in these competition in the best possible condition. The current team are much better and more experienced than the team that participated in the 2022 Volleyball Nations League. Some top players like Javad Karimi, Mohammadjavad Manavinezhad, and Aliasghar Mojarad are added to the squad to strengthen Iran national team.

“The national team also played outstanding preparatory games against well-known European teams. I think the national team's technical staff achieved what they wanted before the tournament,” he added.

“In the world championship, we were placed in a group, where our qualification was predicted in advance. The victory against Argentina was more the result of our opponents’ mistakes rather than our performance.

“That win guaranteed our qualification to the next stage, and the most important thing was to qualify as the first team of the group.

“Unfortunately, against the Netherland, we did not perform well. The national team lacked the necessary concentration. The technical staff could not use the players' potential and strengths against the Netherlands. A series of wrong decisions and mistakes made us lose the game to the Netherlands, and now we have to compete in a difficult match with Brazil in the knockout stage,” he concluded.

Iran will take on Brazil in the round of 16 Tuesday night.