In July of this year, the Japanese men's volleyball team came in third in the VNL, winning their first medal at a world championships in 46 years. This feat was largely due to the presence of key players such as Yuki Ishikawa and Ai Takahashi, and the skill of French coach Blanc, but I believe that the Japanese team would not have grown as it did without the presence of their "Asian rival," Iran.
In the early 2010s, the Japanese team had a string of failures in international competitions. They finished last every year in the World League, the predecessor to the VNL, and failed to win in Asian competitions. Furthermore, they missed out on the 2014 World Championships for the first time in nearly half a century.
In contrast, Iran has become one of the world's strongest countries during this time. Iran invited the famous Argentine coach Velasco to join the team. Thanks to his skills and talented players including Saeed Ma'roof (former Iran national team player), Iran quickly joined the ranks of the world's strongest countries. In 2011, they won the Asian Championship for the first time, came in 4th in the World League in 2014, made it to the quarterfinals of the World Championship, and in 2016, they made it to the quarterfinals of their first Olympic appearance.
In fact, Japan has hardly been able to beat Iran since 2010 (Japan won the 2015 Asian Championship by beating Iran, but Iran was not at its best). I think it was a huge shock to the Japanese team that an Asian country that they had been able to beat easily up until then had become out of reach in just a few years. This fact must have fueled the Japanese team's sense of crisis even more than before. Iran's success ignited the Japanese men's team.
From there, Japan also reformed their team to follow Iran's example. First, in 2017, they invited French coach Philippe Blanc. Although his title was second coach, he was in fact the head coach, leading the team in reforms and instilling world-class volleyball in Japan. Although they were not able to produce immediate results in their first year, their true value gradually began to show with the addition of new player Nishida in 2018.
In this year's VNL, Japan won against Iran, who had gathered their best members, for the first time in nine years since 2009, and also defeated Italy for the first time in 11 years. I think that Japan was finally able to become Iran's rival after that year. Since then, from 2019 to the present, Japan has won 5 times and lost 2 times.
Currently, the only Asian teams that can compete on an equal footing with the world's top teams in men's volleyball are Japan and Iran. Even watching the games at this year's Asian Championships, the difference in level between these two teams and the other teams is clear. Also, many players from Japan and Iran play in the world's top leagues. Again, Japan and Iran are the only Asian teams to do so. Japan's Ishikawa was once teammate with Iran's Maarouf and Milad Ebadipour in Italy.
I believe the final between Japan and Iran, true rivals in East and West Asia, will be an amazing and historic match (although, with apologies to the Iranian fans, I believe Japan will win).
I sincerely hope that one day we will compete for the gold medal not only at the Asian Championships, but also in the finals of the World Championships.
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