Slobodan Kovac will be at the helm when Iran take on world champions Poland in World League Pool B this weekend
Tehran, Iran, June 25, 2015 - The coaches and captains of the Iranian and Polish teams looked ahead to this weekend's matches between the two teams in FIVB Volleyball World League Pool B at a press conference in Tehran.
Poland captain Michal Kubiak said: "Hello everybody. It is obvious that we came to Iran to win some games. We didn’t come here only to see the country and the city, which is beautiful by the way. We came here to win to qualify to Brazil and that is our goal. Because I wasn’t here last year, I heard that the fans here are amazing. I wanted to check that for myself.
"My teammates have told me that last year the crowd here was really loud, but this is the kind of crowd that we are used to playing in front of in Poland too. We are not afraid of this. We are not going to lay surrender and let Iran win. We want to win a game here. This is our goal."
Iran captain Saeid Marouf said: "It is natural that a match against the world champions will be tough. This match is very important in terms of qualification. We must focus on a good performance. I hope to repeat our results against the USA. No matter the result taken either by Poland or Iran, a good performance is our main focus; I am still hopeful to get the best possible result."
Poland coach Stephane Antiga said: "I don’t want to repeat everything my captain said. We are in good shape; we are prepared. We know Iran will have the support of their fans. Anyway, we know how it will be and we want to win."
Talking about [Bartosz] Kurek's absence, Antiga said: "Yes, Kurek has some trouble with his back. So he will rest until Monday, unless he is ready to play tomorrow. Anyway, our opposite [Jakub] Jarosz has trained very well. He had a good season in the Polish league. He has experience, so I am not afraid. A strong group has to be able to change its players easy. It is what we did last year."
Iran coach Slobodan Kovac said: "We have two difficult matches against the world champions. It will be very difficult to win. We are ready. We will try repeating our performance against the USA. Playing here for our opponents is difficult. Our fans are fantastic. We will try to win."