Against Iran and Georgia, both matches ended with each team winning four bouts, but with USA earning fewer classification points and losing on criteria.
There was a palpable anticipation at the Forum in Inglewood heading into the matchup between USA and Iran Sunday morning. Iran had won the last four World Cup titles and was a heavy favorite going into this weekend.
The likelihood of Iran winning Pool B and advancing to the final became even greater when it was announced earlier this week that two members of USA's freestyle team would not be making the event. Two-time world bronze medalist Tervel Dlagnev had been battling injuries and standing Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion Jordan Burroughs stayed in Nebraska with his wife to witness the delivery of his daughter, Ora.
Without these two starters, it seemed like USA would struggle with success this weekend, but a strong first-day performance gave hope to USA Wrestling fans that they could stand atop the podium.
Against Iran, the classification points came out to 17-15. The meet was decided at heavyweight where Olympic champion Jake Varner bumped up to 125 kilos and couldn't defeat Iran's Parviz Hadi, currently ranked 4th in the world at heavyweight.
The meet was filled with back and forth action and exciting wrestling throughout. At 57 kilos, Daniel Dennis held a 2-1 lead over 2013 World Champ Hassan Rahimi, who remained composed and scored three takedowns second period to win 7-2.
Masoud Esmaeeilpour earned four step-out points against Tony Ramos in the first period to go on to an 8-2 victory.
Frank Molinaro celebrates after beating two-time world medalist Sayed Mohammadi of Iran (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)"At that point (after the first period) I was a little bit nervous," said Molinaro. "I was like 'I'm too far behind. What am I going to do here?' But it comes down to what are you fighting for?"
When asked how he scored the two takedowns, Molinaro said.
"He stopped A. He stopped B. He stopped C. So I went to D."
USA tied up the dual meet score 2-2 with a 5-2 win by James Green over Mostafa Hosseinkhani. The bout was tied 2-2, but Green was losing on criteria. He forced the action and got a shot clock point. When Hosseinkhani came after him in the closing seconds, Green countered and put the match away.
"If I kept moving and clearing ties, I knew I could open him up," Said Green. "It's not really a strategy, it's just that you've got to keep marinating the guy. Wear that guy down, open him up and you get the takedowns."
After a win by Iran at 74 kilos, USA tied up the team score again when J'den Cox beat No. 5 Ranked Alireza Karimi 6-2. Cox gave up the opening takedown, but kept his cool.
"I just thought about it in compartments," said Cox. "I got taken down. The next thing is let's not give up four, only two. Get to your shot. I'm really good with my legs. I'm really good on defense. I waited for an opening for the last takedown and I took it."
USA followed up Cox's win with and 8-1 victory by standing World Champ Kyle Snyder, but after that match, even though USA had a 4-3 match lead, the classification points were tied 14-14 meaning that everything would come down to heavyweight.
Against Georgia in the bronze-medal match, Daniel Dennis opened the scoring against standing world champ Vladimer Khinchegashvili with a takedown followed by two gut wrenches. Behind 6-0, Khinchegashvili came back with a takedown and turn followed by a sequence in which Dennis got pinned.
Ramos fell behind early against Beka Lomtadze but hit a wild four-point throw late in the second period to seemingly go ahead 5-4. A challenge and video review resulted in Lomtadze also scoring two points on the sequence, which gave him the win.
Needing a win desperately, Team USA witnessed a remarkable comeback from Frank Molinaro as he defeated Zurabi Lakobishvili 4-4 on criteria.
"I just think my persistence and being on him and got me that win," said Molinaro. "Not any particular skill. Just working hard."
Molinaro finished 4-0 on the weekend.
James Green was undefeated at the Freestyle World Cup (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)"A lot of Europeans wrestle each other," said Green. "They don't get to wrestle guys like me that move around and bang on their heads. He wasn't used to it so I took advantage of it."'
Alex Dieringer rebounded from a tough loss in the morning to win 10-1 over Jakob Makarashvili, ranked 14th in the world.
"I just kept of the pressure the whole match," said Dieringer. "Sometimes foreigners break when you do that."
Despite a late match rally, 86 kilos wrestler J'den Cox was unable to overcome a 4-0 first period deficit, and suffered his first loss of the weekend to Dato Marsagishvili 7-4.
"When J'den is moving, he's got some magic in him," said U.S. coach Bruce Burnett. "But that guy tied him up. And he got started a little bit late."
World champ Kyle Snyder electrified the crowd with a takedown in the last five seconds to beat Elizbar Odikadze 3-3 on criteria.
"I've been there a couple times this year," said Synder. "It kind of stinks to be in that position, but I'm getting more used to it, wrestling tough guys."
The win put Team USA up 4 matches to 3, but Georgia had the number one ranked heavyweight in the world, Geno Petriashvili, who defeated American Zack Rey 6-2. The win gave Georgia the victory 17-16 on criteria.
"We've got to get better," said Burnett. "We got outsmarted in some of those matches. But at the same time we had some great performances. Right now we've got about 69 days to get ready for Rio. If you don't learn from this and you make the same mistakes again, then shame on you."
3rd Place Match
United States 4 (16), Georgia 4 (17)
57 kilos: Vladimer Khinchegashvili (Georgia) fall Daniel Dennis (United States), 2:32
61 kilos: Beka Lomtadze (Georgia) dec. Tony Ramos (United States), 8-5
65 kilos: Frank Molinaro (United States) dec. Zurab Iakobishvili (Georgia), 4-4
70 kilos: James Green (United States) tech. fall David Tlashadze (Georgia), 10-0
74 kilos: Alex Dieringer (United States) dec. Yakob Makarashvili (Georgia), 10-1
86 kilos: Dato Marsigashvili (Georgia) dec. J'den Cox (United States), 7-4
97 kilos: Kyle Snyder (United States) dec. Elizbar Odikadze (Georgia), 3-3
125 kilos: Geno Petriashvili (Georgia) dec. Zack Rey (United States), 6-2
Pool Final
United States 4 (15), Iran 4 (17)
57 kilos: Hassan Rahimi (Iran) dec. Daniel Dennis (United States), 7-2
61 kilos: Masoud Esmaeilpourjouybari (Iran) dec. Tony Ramos (United States), 8-2
65 kilos: Frank Molinaro (United States) dec. Sayed Mohammadi (Iran), 4-3
70 kilos: James Green (United States) dec. Moustafa Hosseinkhani (Iran), 5-2
74 kilos: Hassan Yazdanicharati (Iran) tech. fall Alex Dieringer (United States), 10-0
86 kilos: J'den Cox (United States) dec. Alireza Karimimachiani (Iran), 6-2
97 kilos: Kyle Snyder (United States) dec. Abbas Tahan (Iran), 8-1
125 kilos: Parviz Hadi (Iran) dec. Jake Varner (United States), 3-1
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