Captain Marouf Concerned about Iran’s Readiness in FIVB World Championship

Iran, which has finished in fourth place in the 2014 FIVB World League, is under pressure to get good results in the World Championship, to be held in Poland from August 30 to September 21, 2014.

“Everything is OK and there is no problem, but we did not have enough time for recovery after a high-level tournamnet such as the FIVB World League. We are not well-prepared at the moment,” Saeid Marouf told the Tasnim News Agency.

“Of course, Brazil and Russia have been in the training camp for six months and there is no excuse for us but we have not a good recovery,” Iran setter added.

Iran has been drawn in Pool D along with US, Italy, France, Belgium and Puerto Rico.

“We don’t need to talk about US and Italy since everyone knows about these two teams. France also is a good team, who has earned good results and they deserved to be among the World League final eight but they were unlucky,” Marouf stated.

“We have to be realistic. At the moment, the expectations are high but our first goal is playing good in Poland. We will have to do our best in the event,” he said.

The Iranian team will play two friendlies with Australia prior to the prestigious competition.

Slobodan Kovac’s team will start the campaign with a match against Italy on August 31.

Russia is the most decorated team in the world championship winning six times.