VNL Final Six: Iran Clash with Poland One to Watch

The competition set to be played in Chicago, USA from July 10-14, fivb.org reported.

Host USA is expected to line up its top guns to play in front of a home crowd, but it should be challenged by defending champion Russia who is also thought to be bringing on some of its star players that sat out the VNL pool play tournaments.

But one of last year's medalist will have to be eliminated of this year's medals round, as Russia, France and USA are all in the same pool in Chicago.

The other pool features Brazil, Iran and Poland. Iran, the only representative of Asia in this event, is also hungry for a world title - and it has pointed this out in previous comments - but its clash against long-time rival Poland is one to watch out for.

Once again, it will all be down to how the coaches, who will always have the upcoming Olympic qualification tournaments for Tokyo 2020 in the back of their minds, manage their human resources in this quick and intense Final Six, which includes the always very tricky three-team pools in its first phase.