Dubai, United Arab Emirates, August 30, 2015 – Argentina defeated Iran 3-1 (25-17, 16-25, 25-23, 25-21) in the first game of 5-8 semifinal of the FIVB Men’s U23 World Championship at Al Nasr Club in Dubai, on Sunday.
Argentina will play against the winner of Brazil vs Korea game for the fifth place, on Monday. Iran will play for 7th place against the losers. Argentina’s main man was Pablo Koukartsev with 23 points. Iran’s Javad Hosseinabadi scored 15 points for the Asian team.
Argentina started the game with winning the first points. After Argentina’s 8-4 lead, Iran fought back and levelled the game at 10-all. Thanks to Pablo Koukartsev’s effort, South American team again took the control and finished the set with a 10-2 run (25-17).
Iran took the initiative in the beginning of the second set. After 9-7 Asian team scored 10 points in a row to make it 17-7. Argentina could not be able to shorten the gap and Iran won the set 25-16.
Third set was well balanced. Iran led both technical timeouts (8-6, 16-13) but Argentina’s aggressive played helped them to level the game at 16-all. Iran did not lose the control until leading 23-22 but Argentina finished the set with three points in a row, 25-23.
Lead changed in the fourth set several times. After the second technical timeout which Iran reached 16-14, it was Argentina all over again. Strong spikes and serves caused problems for Iran and Argentina eventually won 25-21.