Poland
By winning three points against fierce rivals Iran in Chicago, Illinois, USA, the national team of Poland (11-4 in the preliminary round, No.5) qualified for the semifinals of the 2019 VNL. Even winning two sets against Iran (12-3 in the preliminary round, No.2) would give Poland a promotion to the semis.
Knowing that they also beat Brazil in the Pool B opener, the outcome of the last match in the pool between Brazil and Iran will be of no importance to the squad coached by Vital Heynen. On the other hand, Iran will have to fight Brazil in the last round for a spot in the final four.
Poland took revenge on Iran for a 3-2 defeat in the preliminary round. Actually, Iran prevailed over Poland in their both VNL encounters. The other one was last year and the Asian side won in straight sets.
Iran-vs-Poland
Just like in the match against Brazil, a red card gave the boost to Poland to play more passionately in the rest of the match. At 13-12 for Poland in the second set, Heynen wanted to ask for the challenge, but the Serbian referee Vladimir Simonović did not quite understand what Belgian expert wanted. Heynen was very angry and, as a result, he was red-carded and Iran got a point. This sparked Poland to a 4-0 run and to a 25-18 victory.
Bartosz Bednorz was unstoppable for Poland with 24 points (57.1% attack success rate), while Norbert Huber made 5 kill blocks. Amir Ghafour notched 22 points for Iran, while Seyed Mousavi set up 4 kill blocks.
2019 FIVB Men’s Volleyball Nations League, Final Six – Day 3:
Iran – Poland 1-3 (25-21, 18-25, 20-25, 22-25)
Russia – France 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-17)
