Iran nearly earned themselves a highly Improbable draw against Lionel Messi and the heavily force Argentine team, making their second consecutive scoreless match in the World Cup in Group F. Goalkeeper Alireza Haghighi starred for the Iranians, while Argentina’s goalie Sergio Romero was also required to turn away some difficult shots.
Argentina was expected to dominate Iran, entering the World cup as the 5th ranked side while Iran was a meager 43rd. In the first half, all signs pointed toward that dominance, but the Iranians were surviving an onslaught shots lead by Lionel Messi and teammates. The greatest player in the world, Lionel Messi attempted three shots in the first half while his teammates did the same in overall Argentina fired 10 shots, but only two on goal. They led time of possession 78% for Argentina while Iran only had 22%. Nobody expected a 0-0 going into half time.
In the second half Iran came out firing, missing one opportunity in particular to make Argentina sweat. As the second half went on the Argentinians would again assume control. They possessed the ball even more than what they did in the first half and kept firing away at the Iran goal, but still nothing. They fired at Haghighi who stopped the shots some were even angled poorly and missed the net entirely. The game was entered at the 90 minutes and still the score was 0-0 everyone thought that Iranians and Argentinians were going to share a point, but Lionel Messi came to the rescue.
At minute 92, Messi proved why he is the world’s greatest football player, curving a left-footed shot around the outstretched arms of Haghigh who dove full extension to try to block the shot. The score was Messi’s second goal in many matches, and all but assures that Argentina advances to the next round, while Iran would have to wait and see what Nigeria and Bosnia do today to determine their Future. Group F is a very Interesting group Argentina is 1st who would advance as 2nd place with a Victory over Bosnia, Nigeria would guarantee a spot in the next round