by Hassan Rouhvand
TEHRAN, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Brazil overpowered Iran 3-1 in the 2017 FIVB Volleyball World League held in Italy, Tehran Times daily reported on Sunday.
Igor Kolakovic's men were defeated by the Brazilian giants 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-22) in Pool A1 of Group One matches underway in Pesaro, Italy, on Saturday night.
Evandro Guerra was the biggest contributor to Brazil's win and hammered out as many as 27 points to become the best scorer of the match. Ricardo Lucarelli Souza supported him with another 19. On the Iranian side, Amir Ghafour was the most prolific player, also with 19 points.
"It was a balanced game from the beginning through to the end. All the sets were played point for point. In the last set, Brazil was always in the lead, but we never gave up and fought for every point," Kolakovic was quoted as saying.
The match against Poland is going to be another difficult match for Iran, Kolakovic said, adding that "We've played against the Olympic champion and the Olympic vice champion (runner-up), and we are going to play against the world champion... I will be happy if we are on the same level as we were against Brazil."
On Friday, Iran was beaten by Italy 3-0 in FIVB World Cup opener.
Iran has been scheduled to meet Poland Sunday night while Italy faces Brazil.
The 2017 Group One finals are due to take place in Brazilian city of Curitiba from July 4 to 8.
