Iran coach Slobodan Kovac was not satisfied with the performance of his team after the dropped a set against Tunisia in the first round of the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup
Hamamatsu, Japan, September 9, 2015 – Iran defeated Tunisia 3-1 (25-17, 21-25, 25-14, 25-20) in the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup at Hamamatsu Arena on Wednesday.
Iran coach Slobodan Kovac: "We continue to play bad volleyball. I hope and wish from tomorrow we are better because in this situation I don’t see anything positive. We must have more confidence and try to play much better than yesterday and today."
Iran captain Mir Saeid Marouflakrani: "It was a good match today, but not our best volleyball. We needed this victory and we took it. We have to keep going for the other matches. We can’t compare today’s match with yesterday. Every day is a different story. Normally, we always have problems in our first match in big tournaments, so today we were able to play with more confidence and more comfortable."
Tunisia coach Fathi Mkaouar: "Congratulations to Iran for their win. We must play Poland, Iran and Russia at the start of this tournament and they are all strong teams, so it’s very hard for us to cope. We want to do our best and play better. Today, we were comparatively better and participated with honesty. But our aim in Japan is not just to take part; we also want to learn from other countries. Today, we won the second set and lost the fourth 25-20, so I think we did OK. We will continue to improve how we play and fight better from tomorrow. We have 11 matches in 14 days and we’re not used to having so many games in a short period of time. Also, we only have 12 players while other teams have 14 so it’s difficult to have a good rotation of my squad. Victory is not our prime purpose; we want to learn a lot, game by game and improve day by day, step by step."
Tunisia captain Marouen Garci: "Today was better than yesterday against Poland and we want to continue to play better. Today, we improved our service reception and defensive block."