Game 4: Iran v Spain
Iran 0-1 Spain
This was a funny game, but unfortunately I only caught the second half. Spain got a lucky goal when the ball bounced off Costa as he lurked with intent, but had trouble breaking down a resolute Iran side who took every opportunity to waste time and feign injury.
At times in the second half it seemed that Iran might manage an equaliser, but it wasn’t to be. The main highlight was an Iran player trying and failing to perform an acrobatic throw-in, only to get it wrong and bottle it at the last second.
Spain didn’t look great but Iran made their lives very difficult. Their time-wasting and feigning injury was shocking at times, but when they went for it in the second half they looked quite threatening and were unlucky not to get a goal in the end. They did manage to get it in the net at one point and went completely (and justifiably) insane before it was rightly ruled offside.
On the plus side, female Iranian football fans and children were allowed into the national stadium for the first time since 1979 to watch this game on the big screen, so that’s progress.
This was a funny game, but unfortunately I only caught the second half. Spain got a lucky goal when the ball bounced off Costa as he lurked with intent, but had trouble breaking down a resolute Iran side who took every opportunity to waste time and feign injury.
At times in the second half it seemed that Iran might manage an equaliser, but it wasn’t to be. The main highlight was an Iran player trying and failing to perform an acrobatic throw-in, only to get it wrong and bottle it at the last second.
Spain didn’t look great but Iran made their lives very difficult. Their time-wasting and feigning injury was shocking at times, but when they went for it in the second half they looked quite threatening and were unlucky not to get a goal in the end. They did manage to get it in the net at one point and went completely (and justifiably) insane before it was rightly ruled offside.
On the plus side, female Iranian football fans and children were allowed into the national stadium for the first time since 1979 to watch this game on the big screen, so that’s progress.
