Iran continues spoiler role, downs Netherlands VNL Manila leg

MANILA, Philippines – Iran is continuing its unlikely run in the final leg of the 2024 Volleyball Nations League for Men as they mounted a win streak, edging the Netherlands in five sets, 25-22, 22-25, 25-21, 20-25, 15-10, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Thursday.

After their stunner over Team USA just Wednesday night, the Iranians repelled Nimir Abdel-Aziz and the rest of the Dutch in another upset to take two wins in a row. Prior to the games in Manila, Iran was 0-8 and already out of Final 8 contention.

Still, Iran brought their A-game to the table and recovered from squandering one-set leads to take the victory in cardiac fashion.

A balanced scoring effort from Amin Esmaeilnezhad and Pouria Hossein Khanzadeh helped the underdogs survive a 37-point explosion from Abdel-Aziz.

Skipper Milad Ebadipour spoke about Iran’s mindset moving forward after the match.

“I think we saw the end, that there was nothing more. We lost eight games, so nothing [worse] can happen to our team anymore, so we gave everything, the best,” Ebadipour said. 

“But we look forward [to it]. And our young generation, I think they are starting to play [well], they’re starting to push and change our mentality about emotions, everything,” he added.

Esmaeilnezhad and Khanzadeh led the attack for Iran with 29 and 27 points, respectively. Ebadipour was the only other Iran player in double digit scoring with 13 markers.

They thus improved their record to 2-8, while the Dutch fell to 3-7. The latter are still in contention for a spot in the Final 8.

In the earlier game, Canada (6-4) drubbed Germany (4-6) in three sets, 25-19, 25-18, 25-21.