Iran NT 2016

  • After many speculations, it is almost sure that they are going to change Kovac. Today federation president announced that our options are Lozano, Cichello (probably as an assistant for Lozano), Bernardi and Weber.
    Still they are keeping Kovac as an alternative if they cant sign with another coach.

  • Iran federation secretory general and NT manager will travel to Poland tomorrow to negotiate with Anastasi, Lozano and Cichello.


    They've announced there also will be a negotiation with Kovac if necessary. ;)

  • A new way to choose a head coach: first hire assistant coach then the main one.
    Federation president said that Cichello will be Iran's coach for sure, and we are going to choose the head coach between Anastasi and Lozano by the end of the week who both have the same chance.

  • A new way to choose a head coach: first hire assistant coach then the main one.
    Federation president said that Cichello will be Iran's coach for sure, and we are going to choose the head coach between Anastasi and Lozano by the end of the week who both have the same chance.


    Could you give some info about cichello's background?

  • Could you give some info about cichello's background?


    He was Argentina junior team coach for several years, then came to Iran and was an assistant for Velasco. Meanwhile, he was coach of Molfetta in Italy and a team in Iran league. after Iran he went to Qatar and has been Qatar's NT coach until now.

  • One of NT ex-players claims that Anastasi will be announced as head coach tomorrow.

  • OK it's done, Lozano is the new head coach of Iran.
    I want to ask (specially from Argentine, Polish and German friends) is he a good coach?

  • I wonder how many times they want to bring Anastasi's name while they want to hire another coach, I guess this is 3rd time in a row ! the whole thing was a joke, Lozano was their choice form the start.


    btw I don't think Lozano is a great coach anymore (I REALLY hope I'm wrong) but having Cichello with him makes me feel better. he is indeed a very smart coach, if it was my decision I would sign Cichello himself as the head coach. but they wanted a "bigger name". who knows, even Velasco was considered a "done coach" when he came to Iran in first place. Cichello knows this group of players quite well and this probably will help Lozano to manage them better.


    poor Kovac, despite achieving best ever results with Iran (6th place World Championship, Asian Games gold medal) he was never popular here and nobody gave him a bit credit for those results !!

  • I want to ask (specially from Argentine, Polish and German friends) is he a good coach?


    By the time he was coaching Germany (2009-11), i wasn't following the team to the extent as i am doing now, so i can't really judge tactics or player selection. One thing i can remember is that he insisted for a long time on a constant double change (Tischer/Schöps, Grozer/Steuerwald) which looks like a great idea on paper but effectively never worked in reality :rolleyes:


    He started quite well with the team and had some good results on WCH and World League but they had a terrible pre-olympic year and came in last place at ECH which resulted in his dismissal. There were clearly communication issues with the team as he only spoke italian/spanish with them which meant that half the team were excluded from direct communication. Iranians are used to that so it probably won't be a big problem for them.


    From comments here (or elsewhere) i had the impression that iranians wished to have a coach with a big natural authority. I don't think that he is such kind of person and i wonder whether he can deal with the players when there are problems.
    But time will tell and i wish him good luck for sure.....


  • By the time he was coaching Germany (2009-11), i wasn't following the team to the extent as i am doing now, so i can't really judge tactics or player selection. One thing i can remember is that he insisted for a long time on a constant double change (Tischer/Schöps, Grozer/Steuerwald) which looks like a great idea on paper but effectively never worked in reality :rolleyes:


    He started quite well with the team and had some good results on WCH and World League but they had a terrible pre-olympic year and came in last place at ECH which resulted in his dismissal. There were clearly communication issues with the team as he only spoke italian/spanish with them which meant that half the team were excluded from direct communication. Iranians are used to that so it probably won't be a big problem for them.


    From comments here (or elsewhere) i had the impression that iranians wished to have a coach with a big natural authority. I don't think that he is such kind of person and i wonder whether he can deal with the players when there are problems.
    But time will tell and i wish him good luck for sure.....


    Thank you.Iranians will have the same problem of communication because Velasco was coaching team in English, but they want to solve this problem by Cichello who knows English and has a good relationship with players.
    Why German federation didnt hire a translator at that time?

  • 32 people are invited to NT camp. Training will be started from march 27th. They say Lozano will come from April 3rd. I dont know if this is correct because Radom should play until April 9th.


    S: Saeid Marouf, Mehdi Mahdavi, Alireza Behboudi, Taher Vadi, Ali Nodouzpour


    Op: Shahram Mahmoudi, Amir Ghafour, Mikail Tajer, Javad Hosseinabadi, Amin Alavi


    L: Farhad Zarif, Mehdi Marandi, Mostafa Heidari, Mohammadreza Moazen


    MB: Mohammad Mousavi, Adel Gholami, Armin Tashakori, Mostafa Sharifat, Saman Faezi, Masoud Gholami, Mehdi Ranjbar, Ali Shafiie, Mohammad Fallah


    OH: Hamzeh Zarini, Milad Ebadipour, Farhad Ghaemi, Farhad Nazari Afshar, Alireza Mobasheri, Rahman Davoudi, Mojtaba Mirzajanpour, Javad Manavienejad, Mojtaba Shaban


  • Thanks for posting this news. Can you shed some comments about the squad?


    I think Marouf needs a better backup than Madhavi. I just don't know if there're better candidates than Madhavi.


    Has Mahmoudi fully recovered? He's been consistently suffering from injuries (ankle if I recall) in the past two years at NT.


    Also, are there any promising OHs? The three OHs last year all have obvious weaknesses...


  • you're welcome!


    In the previous summer, I think the main problem of Iran was psychological not technical, I hope presence of Cichello who has good relationship with players and Lozano who is an experienced and a coach with discipline, help Iran to qualify for the first time.


    Talking about positions: First setter will be Marouf, second setter as you mentioned is not certain yet. Many in Iran believe for some years that Behboudi is better than Mahdavi and it is possible to replace him.


    Two opposites will be Mahmoudi and Ghafour for sure if they are not injured, ankle injury of Mahmoudi you are mentioning was for 2014 season, in 2015 world league he played without a problem and everything was OK until first day of WC when he suffered a back injury. Ghafour wasn't fully recovered from shoulder injury and that caused problems in WC for the team.Both were healthy and ready in the league, I hope they continue to be so.


    Another certain position will be MBs which are Mousavi and Gholami who have a big advantage compared with others. Third one, I believe will be Tashakori, mainly because of his characteristic jump-floats.


    Liberos will be Zarif and Marandi for almost sure.


    The most uncertain position is OH. I think Ebadipour position is guaranteed because he had a good season and has improved. second one may be Mirzajanpour, but there is a big question about others. all have same chance, Ghaemi is not in his good form, Manavienezhad who entered NT last year may need more experience, and we have 4 others from experienced and former NT members. Nazari was present untill 2011, then he had a shoulder surgery and now is close to his level. Zarini, Davoudi and Mobasheri where in NT until 2013 and now are ready to come back. Generally this position is a weakness of Iran compared to setting, opposite and MB position and this wont be solved in the near future.


  • Thanks for your detailed comments. I haven't got a chance to respond earlier due to my work...


    I've read somewhere that Mousavi was seriously injured and was sent to the hospital. Hope that he can recover very soon and help Iran NT get their OG ticket.

  • Thanks for your detailed comments. I haven't got a chance to respond earlier due to my work...


    I've read somewhere that Mousavi was seriously injured and was sent to the hospital. Hope that he can recover very soon and help Iran NT get their OG ticket.


    Mousavi's injury isnt serious. He'll be back in a few days

  • Shortened list for OQ (20 people):


    S: Saeid Marouf, Mehdi Mahdavi, Alireza Behboudi




    Op: Shahram Mahmoudi, Amir Ghafour, Amin Alavi




    L: Farhad Zarif, Mehdi Marandi




    MB: Mohammad Mousavi, Adel Gholami, Armin Tashakori, Mostafa Sharifat,
    Saman Faezi




    OH: Hamzeh Zarini, Milad Ebadipour, Farhad Ghaemi,
    Alireza Mobasheri, Rahman Davoudi, Mojtaba Mirzajanpour, Javad
    Manavienejad

  • WL roster (21 people):


    S: Saeid Marouf, Mehdi Mahdavi, Taher Vadi


    Op: Shahram Mahmoudi, Amir Ghafour, Amin Alavi


    L: Farhad Zarif, Mehdi Marandi


    MB: Mohammad Mousavi, Adel Gholami, Armin Tashakori, Mostafa Sharifat, Saman Faezi, Mohammad Fallah


    OH: Hamzeh Zarini, Milad Ebadipour, Farhad Ghaemi, Alireza Mobasheri, Rahman Davoudi, Mojtaba Mirzajanpour, Javad Manavienejad