Iran NT 2016

  • Thanks. When will the NT play their first match? Curious if there'd be any change in the starting seven.

    14 who travel to France to play friendlies on may 13th and 14th.


    S: Saeid Marouf, Mehdi Mahdavi


    Op: Shahram Mahmoudi, Amir Ghafour


    L: Farhad Zarif, Mehdi Marandi


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


    OH: Hamzeh Zarini, Milad Ebadipour, Farhad Ghaemi, Mojtaba Mirzajanpour


    4 changes compared to the last year, return of Zarif, Zarini and Tashakori and addition of Sharifat. First two may appear on the starting line-up.


  • Not sure about the current form of Zarini. If he's in shape, at least Iran would have a reliable OH who can receive and attack decently.

  • Iran has probably the most difficult order of play of all teams involved in this tournament, but if they don't qualify for the Olympics now, they never will


    Hmm Australia & Canada in first 2 rounds arent bad schedule :) I see 1st match as more important coz Australia is direct rival from Asia. If I'm Lozano my "primary" matches would be vs Asian teams. On other side they can challenge both Poland & France, schedule is tight and there is more pressure on European teams than on Iran. Japan is going to be tough nut to crack, they are playing extremly well under Nambu but Iranians should be physically stronger than Japs.

  • Hmm Australia & Canada in first 2 rounds arent bad schedule :) I see 1st match as more important coz Australia is direct rival from Asia. If I'm Lozano my "primary" matches would be vs Asian teams. On other side they can challenge both Poland & France, schedule is tight and there is more pressure on European teams than on Iran. Japan is going to be tough nut to crack, they are playing extremly well under Nambu but Iranians should be physically stronger than Japs.

    If I were Iran I would rather play my direct opponents later... first day of competition is tricky for everyone involved. Anyway this is entirely up to team Iran, if they play anywhere near a decent level they will easily qualify. I hope their new coach was able to teach some manners and some humility to the notorious primadonna.

  • If I were Iran I would rather play my direct opponents later... first day of competition is tricky for everyone involved. Anyway this is entirely up to team Iran, if they play anywhere near a decent level they will easily qualify. I hope their new coach was able to teach some manners and some humility to the notorious primadonna.


    :D What a nice expression for Iran's players! I learned sth new, thanks!


    Actually as I said before I think main problem for Iran's performance last year was psychological, and bad performance of Ebadipour and Mirza can be explained in the same manner. Ebadipour showed a very good improvement in Iran league and his place on the starting line-up is guaranteed.
    Zarini came back from an ACL injury in 2014 and last year helped Iran B team a lot to get silver medal at asian championship. He is a better receiver than Mirza but not so much. :whistle:


    Until now every thing is good in NT camp and all players are training hard Lozano's hard exercises with full energy and every thing seems to go well. I wish this becomes a reality in practice.

  • Is zarini in the squad or not? How many players are in France now?


    Yes, 14 who I mentioned above are in France.
    The match will be broadcasted on L’Equipe 21 today's match is 20 pm and tomorrow's is on 18 pm.

  • Mahmoudi has been injured (again!) recently. How did he get injured and would he recover in time?


    Actually I was waiting for his injury because most of the time he is injured :wall: , He has announced that he will say goodbye to NT after Olympics if qualify mostly because of his injuries. He has some problems with his back. He felt pain during training before match vs. France.
    Now they say he is training with team and can play in the tournament. also Lozano has called a fifth OH to Tokyo (Manavienezhad) to use instead of Mahmoudi if he doesn't recover.


    I hope he can play because Marouf-Ghafour link in the friendlies was terrible and I dont think we can qualify without Mahmoudi.

  • Iran's list for the first weak of world league:


    S: Saeid Marouf, Mehdi Mahdavi
    Op: Shahram Mahmoudi, Javad Manavienejad
    L: Farhad Zarif, Mehdi Marandi
    MB: Mohammad Mousavi, Adel Gholami, Armin Tashakori, Mostafa Sharifat
    OH: Hamzeh Zarini, Milad Ebadipour, Alireza Mobasheri, Mojtaba Mirzajanpour


    Ghaemi and Ghafour are excluded due to injury. They can come back in two weeks.
    Seems Lozano is afraid of changes like Kovac unless he is forced to do so.


  • Mirzajanpour played as OP and Manavinejad as OH this WL
    I find Mahmoudi really out of form
    Any information about Ghafour and Ghaemi's injury? They are really missed and needed

  • I really don't know what to say anymore about this Iran team, however day after day it's becoming more and more obvious that the problem wasn't Kovac. This team has regressed in all fundamentals, their federation should address this issue rather than changing coaches over and over.

  • I really don't know what to say anymore about this Iran team, however day after day it's becoming more and more obvious that the problem wasn't Kovac. This team has regressed in all fundamentals, their federation should address this issue rather than changing coaches over and over.


    As I know (insider) players weren't satisfied with Kovač and his stuff :whistle: and rebellion was led by Marouf :whistle:


    But it's hard to replace Julio Velasco. Players connected with him as he built them as a team, had authority because his achievements and Kovač came without any big result. I have really high opinion on Velasco, IMO he was Iranian the best player and what's the most important he knew how to manage Marouf and other stars. Lozano is on the same path or at least looks like that. I'm sure they'll look better and better, ticket to Rio is huge boost and Lozano proved he can manage this team.


    Iran's biggest problem, in my opinion ofc, are OH's. Mirzajanpour isn't developing for 2 years (that's club fault not NT coaches), Ebadipour is oscilating a lot, Zarini should retire, Ghaemi is typicall defensive OH (except on serve). Manavinejand is a revelation as his offensive skills are great, as well as block but he might miss international experience.


    On other side I'm not watching their quality through WL results for several reasons and can't make firm conclusions. WOQT was extremly exhausting tournament, both physically and mentally, and it's logical they didn't care much about WL. Mahmoudi was "squeezed" like a lemon and obviously tired. Same goes for Marouf and Ebadipour. Second reason, Ghaemi & Ghafour didn't play at all due injuries. Third reason is time. Lozano didn't have too much time to get players better, preparations for WOQT were improvised and Lozano used WL matches to check different tactics and how to play in various ways.


    Matches in Rio will show their abilities and quality :whistle: