Iran won their first match at a World Cup finals for 20 years thanks to a last-gasp own-goal by Morocco substitute Aziz Bouhaddouz at the Krestovsky Stadium.
Many of the spectators in attendance were surely expecting the match to peter out into a 0-0 snoozefest with much of the second-half being a total non-event.
However, Iran won a late free-kick in a very dangerous area as the clocked ticked into the 93rd-minute of the match.
Ehsan Haji Safi swung in one of the few decent crosses of the match which was turned in by Bouhaddouz as he desperately tried to clear the ball away.
This only piled on the misery for Morocco after losing to North America in their bid to host the 2026 World Cup.
The goal followed a very quiet second-half which, in fairness, would have been predicted by many considering this game involved two teams who were both very strong defensively in their qualifying campaigns. Morocco kept 6 clean sheets in succession prior to this tournament, Iran went a staggering 1,122 minutes without conceding a goal.
The opening exchanges of the match was from the dull, stale affair that it eventually transformed to, though. Morocco, in fact, started brightly and impressively.
Morocco began on the front foot and with a clear intent to take this game to their Asian counterparts from the beginning. Hakim Ziyech, a talented and promising attacking midfielder from Ajax, showed his class in the early exchanges by pulling the strings in the final-third.
He also could, and probably should, have put his nation in front in the third-minute. A clever Morocco corner caught Iran off-guard and arrived in the path of the Ajax midfield maestro but he, rather clumsily, swung his leg at the ball and missed it completely.
A minute later, Watford full-back Nordin Amrabat drifted past Eshan Haji Safi and delivered a teasing cross that was nodded just over the top by Younes Behlanda. A really positive start to the match from the Moroccans.
Following a sustained period of pressure, Herve Renard’s team had a fabulous chance to score their first goal at a World Cup finals since 1998 in the 18th-minute, when Iran went uncharacteristically shaky at the back.
A long, diagonal free-kick was chipped into the box and headed back across goal which, after an almighty scramble and some desperate Iranian defending, fell into the path of Juventus defender Mehdi Benatia whose shot was saved by Alireza Berianvend.
Iran were dealt an unusual pre-tournament blow by having their supply of football boots halted by Nike; due to US President Donald Trump re-imposing economic sanctions on the country after withdrawing from a nuclear deal with the Middle East.
It evidently took their players a little time to wear in their new footwear with an energetic Morocco overrunning Carlos Queiroz’s slow and lacklustre side in the opening 20 minutes.
They grew into the game, though, and arguably ended the half the stronger side. Due to Morocco’s attacking, full-throttle nature, they can tend to leave themselves a bit open at the back and this frailty was exposed moments before the half-time break.
Iran scampered forward after Morocco were dispossessed in the middle of the park and Sardar Azmoun, dubbed the ‘Iranian Messi’, was played clean through on goal but failed to produce a Messi-esque finish as his side-footed attempt was expertly saved by Munir Mohamedi into the path of Vahid Amiri, who was also denied by the Numancia shot-stopper.
Things didn’t get much better in the match’s remainder with the two teams largely cancelling each other out and the game turning into a scrappy, stop-start affair.
The only real chance of the half was when Hakim Ziyech, again involved, hit a low, well-struck effort towards goal from 20 yards out that produced a flying save from the Iranian goalkeeper 10 minutes from time.
This, of course, was the case until the dying seconds where things exploded into life and a famous moment was created in the history of Iranian football.
This leaves them top of Group B, with Portugal and Spain set to contest the other openers from the group at 19:00 this evening.
Queiroz, who will come up against his birth-nation in Portugal in the group’s final round of matches, will feel encouraged that his Iran team now hold a slim chance of upsetting Portugal and progressing into the knockout phase of the tournament.
Many of the spectators in attendance were surely expecting the match to peter out into a 0-0 snoozefest with much of the second-half being a total non-event.
However, Iran won a late free-kick in a very dangerous area as the clocked ticked into the 93rd-minute of the match.
Ehsan Haji Safi swung in one of the few decent crosses of the match which was turned in by Bouhaddouz as he desperately tried to clear the ball away.
This only piled on the misery for Morocco after losing to North America in their bid to host the 2026 World Cup.
The goal followed a very quiet second-half which, in fairness, would have been predicted by many considering this game involved two teams who were both very strong defensively in their qualifying campaigns. Morocco kept 6 clean sheets in succession prior to this tournament, Iran went a staggering 1,122 minutes without conceding a goal.
The opening exchanges of the match was from the dull, stale affair that it eventually transformed to, though. Morocco, in fact, started brightly and impressively.
Morocco began on the front foot and with a clear intent to take this game to their Asian counterparts from the beginning. Hakim Ziyech, a talented and promising attacking midfielder from Ajax, showed his class in the early exchanges by pulling the strings in the final-third.
He also could, and probably should, have put his nation in front in the third-minute. A clever Morocco corner caught Iran off-guard and arrived in the path of the Ajax midfield maestro but he, rather clumsily, swung his leg at the ball and missed it completely.
A minute later, Watford full-back Nordin Amrabat drifted past Eshan Haji Safi and delivered a teasing cross that was nodded just over the top by Younes Behlanda. A really positive start to the match from the Moroccans.
Following a sustained period of pressure, Herve Renard’s team had a fabulous chance to score their first goal at a World Cup finals since 1998 in the 18th-minute, when Iran went uncharacteristically shaky at the back.
A long, diagonal free-kick was chipped into the box and headed back across goal which, after an almighty scramble and some desperate Iranian defending, fell into the path of Juventus defender Mehdi Benatia whose shot was saved by Alireza Berianvend.
Iran were dealt an unusual pre-tournament blow by having their supply of football boots halted by Nike; due to US President Donald Trump re-imposing economic sanctions on the country after withdrawing from a nuclear deal with the Middle East.
It evidently took their players a little time to wear in their new footwear with an energetic Morocco overrunning Carlos Queiroz’s slow and lacklustre side in the opening 20 minutes.
They grew into the game, though, and arguably ended the half the stronger side. Due to Morocco’s attacking, full-throttle nature, they can tend to leave themselves a bit open at the back and this frailty was exposed moments before the half-time break.
Iran scampered forward after Morocco were dispossessed in the middle of the park and Sardar Azmoun, dubbed the ‘Iranian Messi’, was played clean through on goal but failed to produce a Messi-esque finish as his side-footed attempt was expertly saved by Munir Mohamedi into the path of Vahid Amiri, who was also denied by the Numancia shot-stopper.
Things didn’t get much better in the match’s remainder with the two teams largely cancelling each other out and the game turning into a scrappy, stop-start affair.
The only real chance of the half was when Hakim Ziyech, again involved, hit a low, well-struck effort towards goal from 20 yards out that produced a flying save from the Iranian goalkeeper 10 minutes from time.
This, of course, was the case until the dying seconds where things exploded into life and a famous moment was created in the history of Iranian football.
This leaves them top of Group B, with Portugal and Spain set to contest the other openers from the group at 19:00 this evening.
Queiroz, who will come up against his birth-nation in Portugal in the group’s final round of matches, will feel encouraged that his Iran team now hold a slim chance of upsetting Portugal and progressing into the knockout phase of the tournament.
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