Costa's stroke of fortune hands Spain narrow victory over battling Iran

Iran boss Carlos Queiroz admitted before the game that his side would have to produce the best performance in their history even to be in with a shout of claiming a favourable result and he must have been full of pride at how his side set about the mammoth task.

Unsurprisingly, Spain dominated possession in the first half, but for all their control of the game, they struggled to break down a stubborn Iranian rearguard.

Set-pieces looked to be Spain's best chance of creating something, with 'La Roja' quickly growing frustrated with what they perceived as attempts to run down the clock.

David Silva saw a free-kick comfortable saved by Alreza Beiranvand at the mid-way point in the half, before he saw an ambitious overhead kick from eight yards fly harmlessly over the bar.

The Manchester City man was at the heart of all of Spain best stuff in the first half and almost made the breakthrough on the stroke of the interval as his deflected effort from the edge of the box looped agonisingly wide of Beiranvard's right-hand post.

However, Iran held firm to go in level at the break, with the restart providing a much more watchable spectacle.

- Breathless second period - 

Gerard Pique, making his 100th appearance for his country, was spectacularly denied by a combination of the goalkeeper and a horde of Iranian bodies as he looked to flick home a corner, before Beiranvard atoned for his own mistake in parrying away Sergio Busquets' drive to get to the loose ball before Lucas Vazquez.

It was a breathless start to the second period, with even Iran threatening as Karim Ansarifard hammered a volley into the side-netting in the aftermath of a long throw.

Just a minute later though, Spain made Iran pay for that miss as they took the lead in fortunate circumstances.

Andres Iniesta slipped Costa in just inside the box, with Ramin Rezaeian coming across to make a challenge. The danger looked to be over at that, only for the 28-year-old to fire the ball into the shins of the Atletico Madrid forward, with the ball ricocheting low beyond Beiranvard at the near post to break the deadlock.

However, far from kill off Iran's hopes, Queiroz's men appeared to be spurred on by going behind and they thought they had levelled just after the hour mark.

A long free-kick from deep was fired into the mixer, with it eventually falling to Saeid Ezatolahi to blast through a crowd of bodies and into the back of the net, sparking wild Iran celebrations.

However, the officials played the role of party-poopers, with the linesman flagging the 21-year-old for offside, something which VAR then confirmed.

It took some determined defending from Iran to deny Spain a second as they threw body after body in front of the ball to prevent Costa and Pique from forcing home a loose ball after a nicely-worked Spain corner.

As time ticked away, Iran looked the more likely to score the next goal, with Mehdi Taremi inches away from meeting an inviting cross from the left at the far post, before the same player headed over a glorious chance at the far post after fine work from Vahid Amiri down the left.

Despite their obvious defensive frailties, Spain did manage to hold on for the win, to go top of Group B ahead of the final round of fixtures. 'La Roja' face Morocco on Monday, with Iran taking on Portugal the same day.

 

June 20, 2018