Iran spoiled the much-awaited Manila debut of crowd darling USA, pulling off a 26-28, 25-23, 25-18, 26-28, 15-13 stunner for a stellar maiden win in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) Men’s Week 3 on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Winless in their first eight matches, the Iranians finally broke through at the expense of the mighty Americans for a 1-8 slate at joint 15th place with Turkey.
Iran’s massive victory mirrored Germany’s upset over reigning Olympic gold medalist and this year’s Summer Games host France, 25-23, 25-27, 25-20, 25-23, in the first game of the thrilling second day of VNL’s Week 3 before the finals later this month in Poland.
Spiker Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh Firouzjah and captain Milad Ebadipour Ghara conspired with 23 and 20 points, respectively, for the world No. 17 Iran.
“This is the most difficult game to start the third week and play USA, which is one of the best teams in the world. We’re so happy to win against one of the biggest teams like the USA,” said Ghara.
Iran dropped the first set via a close margin but snatched the next two from the United States to move on the verge of a triumphant upset only in four sets only to fumble a golden opportunity.
Two straight service errors haunted Iran late in the fourth set, paving the way for USA’s escape act through an off-the-block hit by TJ DeFalco to forge a rubber match.
But the Iranians saved their best for last, recovering from a near meltdown after wasting a 9-6 lead as the Americans stormed back to within 13-14 with yet another DeFalco attack only for Firouzjah to seal the deal.
World No. 5 USA, which is preparing for the Paris Olympics as one of the seven qualified teams, took a costly defeat to stay at 12th place with a 3-6 slate entering its last three matches.
Only the Top 8 teams from the VNL will qualify in the Final Round next week in Poland.
