Iran beat the South American team 3-1 (25-19, 23-25, 25-22, 32-30) and will face Italy on Tuesday.
“These two teams played very good volleyball. Iran played a bit better than Argentina, in terms of the skills. Towards the end of the fourth set, we felt that we could have better chances to win the set. I think Argentina played with too much risk, and these risks could easily convert to mistakes. We needed to take control of the match,” Ataei said.
“I am very happy for this win against Argentina because it was a very hard match,” he added.
Iran captain Amirhossein Esfandiar also said the match against Argentina was a good match, but also a very difficult one.
“It was an important win because we knew very well that Argentina could play very well. I think after this win, we can just play better match by match. I hope we win the next matches so we can join the Final Four teams,” he added.