MATCH INFO

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 10, 2011 – Hosts Brazil claimed fifth place in FIVB Men's Junior World Championship by edging Iran 3-2 (25-22, 20-25, 19-25, 25-22, 15-10) in a well fought duel at Maracanazinho Gymnasium on Wednesday afternoon.

 

Brazilian opposite Luan Weber was the top scorer for the home team by registering 29 points, all but one via spikes, while Ricardo Lucarelli posted 17. In the Iranian side, most of the points were produced by opposite Amir Ghafour (26) and outside hitter Mojtaba Mirzajanpour (24).

 

Brazil started the match better and quickly scored 8-3 with Bernardo Reitz blocking. Led by opposite Luan, the home team scored 16-10 and moved to a safe win, but Iran reacted in the end. Following good serves of Sajad Dehnavi, Mirzajanpour spiked to tie it 22-22. With two points of Lucas Loh, one spiking and other serving, and a block by Matheus Cunda, Brazil closed at 25-22.

In the second frame, it was Iran who started ahead with two serve points of Ghafour to score 7-3. Efficient in spiking, the Asians remained in the lead, with Ghafour scoring 16-11. A serve point by captain Farhad Salafzoon improved the Iranian lead to 18-12. Brazil closed in 22-19, with Lucarelli blocking the Iranian opposite, but the Asian ended the frame 25-20 with a spike of Mirzajanpour. 

Iran started the third set in advantage, but Brazil recovered the lead with Lucas Loh blocking Ghafour to score 8-7. In a fool mistake of Brazilian, Iran scored 11-9, but the hosts reacted again to tie it in the 13th point. Brazil fought, but with many problems in receiving, could not stop the Iranian, which scored 19-15 before winning the frame 25-19 with Dehnavi spiking in the middle.

Brazil achieved a 10-8 lead in the fourth set with Lucas Loh blocking Ghafour. A serve point of setter Rasoul Najafi tied the match in the 10th point. With Lucarelli spiking, Brazil scored 14-11, but the hosts' lead quickly disappeared as Ghafour served powerfully three times to tie it 16-16. With Luan spiking from the backcourt, Brazil escaped again to score 20-18. Struggling to keep the lead, Brazil ended the set 25-22 with Lucarelli spiking.

In the beginning of the last set, Lucarelli blocked Mirzajanpour to give Brazil an early 4-1 lead, but the Asian quickly recovered to tie it 5-5. Brazil took advantage of the rivals' mistakes to change sides leading 8-6. When Bernardo blocked Hamed Tariverdi to score 11-7, the hosts got closer to the win, sealed with a spike of Lucarelli 15-10.