Coaches and Players Reflect on Shahdab Vs Iraq

The head coach of Shahdad Yazd Volleyball Team (Iran) remarked that the quality of the Iraqi team could pose challenges for any team. Fortunately, we maintained good organization in our attacks and aimed to prepare ourselves for the next match.

According to the Communications Department of the Volleyball Federation, Shahdad Yazd faced Gas Al-Janoob (Iraq) today at 5 PM (Thursday, September 12) in their third match of this stage, winning decisively with a score of 3-0 and advancing to the semifinals.

After the match, coaches and players from both teams shared their thoughts:

Rahman Mohammadi-Rad, Head Coach of Shahdad Yazd Volleyball Team (Iran): 

“I congratulate and commend the Shahdad team. We achieved our desired results in the last three matches and prepared ourselves for the knockout stage. Today, we played a very good game and won 3-0. The Iraqi team had a friendly match with us previously, which was different from their current condition. They have recruited foreign players and showed good quality today. I believe their mistake was in the match against Afghanistan, which led them to finish fourth in the group and face us. The quality of the Iraqi team could have been troublesome for any team; fortunately, we maintained good organization in our attacks and focused on preparing for the next game. We observed Kazakhstan’s game today, and their style has changed compared to their second match against us. In that game, they pressured us in the first set with their quality, but the experience of our good players allowed us to impose our better quality on Kazakhstan. The semifinal will have its own sensitivities, but we hope that with the support of our passionate fans, we can prepare ourselves for the final. Ilshan is a 21-year-old young talent and one of the assets of this club. We aim to retain our assets, which you will see in league competitions, as we have a young player in every position. Given his performance last year, Ilshan deserved to be with us again this year and improve his quality. He can definitely be one of the setters who will solve our problems in volleyball. He has a very high intelligence, reviews his tactics before every game, and executes them on the court. As a coach, I am just here to support him. I hope young volleyball players quickly find themselves and enhance their quality.”

Alaa Khalaf, Head Coach of Gas Al-Janoob (Iraq): 

“Regarding the previous game, I mentioned that the players lacked focus and couldn’t perform well. It’s similar to the saying that when someone is unfocused, they are said to be ‘drunk.’ Journalists wrote that our players were drunk, which is impossible for anyone to play under such conditions. What I meant by those comments was that the players did not have enough focus. I congratulate Shahdad on their performance. They have well-known players, and I am familiar with them. I’m glad we had a good game against them, and our performance was commendable. There was a great atmosphere in the hall, and I thank the fans for their enthusiastic presence.”

Ilshan Davoodipour, Setter of Shahdad Yazd (Iran): 

“I congratulate and commend the Shahdad team. I’m happy that we made it among the top four teams. Tomorrow we face Kazakhstan, and I hope we can defeat them and reach the final. I congratulate all members of Shahdad; we played very well. The coaching staff works day and night analyzing our performance and providing us with feedback while also supporting us mentally, for which we are very grateful. I thank Shahdad Yazd for making this achievement happen in Yazd for the first time. I hope we can repay their efforts with a championship. I will do my best to showcase my abilities, and Rahman Mohammadi-Rad and Mehdi Mahdavi have been immensely helpful in this journey. Our ultimate goal is victory, and the people of Yazd are very supportive of us.”

Ibrahim Mudhafar Rashid, Middle Blocker of Gas Al-Janoob (Iraq):

“We knew what team we were going to face. Shahdad had a lot of fans, had fewer weaknesses, and exploited our mistakes to win this match. They had excellent supporters, and these competitions provided us with valuable experience to play against strong teams and demonstrate better quality in the future.”