Amid the din, the final whistle barely heard, Iran’s footballers collapsed to the floor exhausted and someone decided to put “Y Viva España!” on the PA system. Spain had lived but dangerously. Iran had been defeated but only just.
Fernando Hierro’s team won 1-0, the breakthrough coming from a fluke that flew off Diego Costa’s knee. And if at that stage, when only they had really sought a goal, it would have been tempting to conclude that fortune favoured the brave, by the end this felt rather different. Spain led but then suffered – more than they had imagined. Iran resisted but then rebelled.
World Cup 2018: Iran 0-1 Spain – as it happened
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While the 2010 world champions scored once, Carlos Queiroz’s team might have scored three and twice thought they had scored one: the first hit the side netting, delighted subs and staff running from the bench before they realised; the second was ruled out for offside but, cruelly, not before celebrations were well under way; and with Iran switched to attack mode andSpain struggling to regain control, the third flew over from six yards late on, Mehdi Taremi barely able to believe it. The moment had gone.
The fortune Iran enjoyed against Morocco deserted them here. It also forced them into a change of plan that almost worked, talent brought to the fore. As for Spain, they secured a victory that leaves them well placed to progress. Asked if the feeling was relief, Hierro said: “The feeling is we have three points we said would be hard to get.”
They got them thanks to a goal that came early in the second period after a first in which they had the ball, eventually racking up 580 more passes than Iran, but were unable to rack up a goal against a side they felt had used old tricks. Diego Costa said “they provoked us; they were on the grass all the time,” while Hierro talked about a match with “lots of stoppages”, pointedly adding “the Spanish national team is in favour of fair play”. Above all, though, Spain had played a side that defended deep – and very, very well.
Spain expected that. Iran had gone 22 matches without defeat, keeping a clean sheet in 18. “They will make it very difficult,” Hierro had warned. They did that all right. What surprised, perhaps, was that ultimately they did not do so only when they were defensive; they did so also when they went looking for a goal, without reward.