Mexico edge victory over strong Iran
There was something unconvincing about Mexico’s win over Iran. On paper they were undoubtedly the stronger team and the end result of 3-1 would seem to suggest this was true. But the match today told a slightly different story.
Iran started strong, constructing a lot and coming close to scoring twice with Vashid Hashemian. It was Mexico that took the lead after 28 minutes with Omar Bravo, but it wasn’t long until Iran equalised after 8 minutes with Yahya Golmohammadi. The first half ended 1-1: a just result, with Iran looking overall slightly stronger than Mexico, and arguably deserving more.
In the second period Mexico controlled the game much more and the Iranians didn’t seem to try as hard, failing to find the intensity they had displayed in the first half. Nevertheless, they managed to cling on to the draw until, in the 76 minute, a defensive blunder by Razaei allowed Brasilian born Zinha to slip a perfect ball to Omar Bravo, who netted his second. Iran had officially given up by this stage, and only 3 minutes later 163cm tall Zinha scored an impressive header to make it 3-1.
All in all, this was not a comfortable win for Mexico, although they shouldn’t have any problems progressing to the next stage. As for Iran, it’s a shame they didn’t manage to come away with at least a point: with a little more self belief in the next two games they could still hope to make it through to the last 16.
June 12th, 2006 at 11:56
well it was a high tempo game, and a draw would have fitted the best in this game. Iran surprised me same like TNT did, this world cup will bring us some more surprising games!