Brazil 2014 - Argentina vs Iran
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Football Index:
World Cup Finals:
Brazil 2014: Argentina vs Iran.
1st Round Matches at Brazil 2014.
Saturday, 21st June
Group Match - Messi Masterclass
Argentina vs 
Iran in Belo Horizonte.
Match Preview
Argentina and Iran had never met in the World Cup Finals before.
When the two teams met in Madrid, back in 1977, the friendly match ended in a (1:1) draw.
The Match
Argentina will be through to the Second Round if they win this game.
Like waves crashing on a sea wall, Argentina kept Iran under almost constant pressure.
Alireza Haghighi came out well to smother the ball at the feet of Gonzalo Higuain in the 13th minute and received treatment for his bravery.
Angel di Maria charged out of the Argentine half after an Iranian corner, in the 18th minute, then sent the ball out to the left. Montazeri put a stop to Higuain and it was back to the drawing board.
Angel di Maria moved forward for Argentina once more and combined with Higuain to set up Aguero; who was foiled by Alireza Haghighi.
Iran weren't without their forays into the Argentina half but most of the action was around their own penalty area; Ezequiel Garay heading over the bar, in the 36th minute, from a Lionel Messi free-kick.
Shortly before the break, Iran had another chance from an Ashkan Dejagah corner; headed over the bar by Jalal Hosseini.
Half-time: Argentina 0 - Iran 0
At the start of the second half, Iran missed a good chance to score through Reza and then had a close penalty call turned down.
Iran started to show belief that they had a chance and even demonstrated skills normally reserved for their South American opponents as the continued to ask questions of Argentina's defence.
The home support were excited and started to get behind Iran.
Again, in the 67th minute, Sergio Romero had to touch Ashkan Dejagah's superb header over the bar; after the Iranian muscled in front of Pablo Zabaleta, to get to the ball first.
Angel di Maria tried to get back into the rhythm he showed in the first-half, while Messi continued in his cameo role.
By the 82nd minute, Iran had all their red shirts back and played with determination to keep Argentina from scoring.
Defending a corner in the 86th minute, Iran again showed great enthusiasm in the counter attack and Reza Ghoochannejhad may have felt a little unlucky after holding off two defenders and getting his shot in from the left; perhaps his legs were tiring.
1:0
All in all, a terrific, spirited display by the Iranians; undone during the start of
injury time when Lionel Messi was left with enough space on the right edge of the area, to
push the ball to the right of his defender and get his foot around the to win the match
for Argentina.
Just when Messi looked out of the game, he sparked into life and displayed a masterclass move to wrong-foot his defender and curl the ball beyond the reach of Haghighi.
The Route to the 2014 World Cup Final looks good from here.
Final Score: Argentina 1 - Iran 0
Goalscorers:
1:0 - Lionel Messi (90+1 mins)
Teams
Argentina:
1-Sergio Romero; 4-Pablo Zabaleta, 2-Ezequiel Garay, 17-Federico Fernandez, 16-Marcos
Rojo; 5-Fernando Gago, 14-Javier Mascherano, 7-Angel di Maria; 20-Sergio Aguero, 10-Lionel
Messi, 9-Gonzalo Higuain.
Iran:
12-Alireza Haghighi; 15-Pejhman Montazeri, 4-Jalal Hosseini, 5-Amir Hossein Sadeqi,
23-Mehrdad Pooladi; 7-Masoud Shojaei, 14-Andranik Teymourian, 6-Javad Nekounam, 3-Ehsan
Hajsafi, 21-Ashkan Dejagah; 16-Reza Ghoochannejhad.
Referee: Milorad Mazic - Serbia 
2 yellow cards:
52 mins - Javad Nekounam (Iran)
72 mins - Masoud Shojaei (Iran)
The Road to Rio
First Round
Thursday, 12th June
Brazil vs Croatia
Friday, 13th June
Chile vs Australia
Mexico vs Cameroon
Spain vs Netherlands
Saturday, 14th June
Colombia vs Greece
Côte d'Ivoire vs Japan
England vs Italy
Uruguay vs Costa Rica
Sunday, 15th June
Argentina vs Bosnia
France vs Honduras
Switzerland vs Ecuador
Monday, 16th June
Germany vs Portugal
Ghana vs USA
Iran vs Nigeria
Tuesday, 17th June
Belgium vs Algeria
Brazil vs Mexico
Russia vs South Korea
Wednesday, 18th June
Australia vs Netherlands
Cameroon vs Croatia
Spain vs Chile
Thursday, 19th June
Colombia vs Côte d'Ivoire
Japan vs Greece
Uruguay vs England
Friday, 20th June
Honduras vs Ecuador
Italy vs Costa Rica
Switzerland vs France
Saturday, 21st June
Argentina vs Iran
Germany vs Ghana
Nigeria vs Bosnia
Sunday, 22nd June
Belgium vs Russia
South Korea vs Algeria
USA vs Portugal
Monday, 23rd June
Australia vs Spain
Cameroon vs Brazil
Croatia vs Mexico
Netherlands vs Chile
Tuesday, 24th June
Costa Rica vs England
Greece vs Côte d'Ivoire
Italy vs Uruguay
Japan vs Colombia
Wednesday, 25th June
Bosnia vs Iran
Ecuador vs France
Honduras vs Switzerland
Nigeria vs Argentina
Thursday, 26th June
Algeria vs Russia
Portugal vs Ghana
South Korea vs Belgium
USA vs Germany
2014 World Cup Finals - Knockout Stage.
World Cup Finals
Uruguay 1930:
Uruguay trailed Argentina at half-time (1:2) but replied with three goals in the second half; to win the first ever World Cup Final (4-2)
on July 30th, 1930.
Italy 1934:
Italy were one of the countries who missed out on the vote to host the first World Cup but managed to win the prestigious golden trophy
for the home fans.
France 1938:
The third World Cup was held in Europe for a second time, although Germany had annexed Austria, and Spain was in civil turmoil.
Brazil 1950:
Although no cup-final as such, Uruguay and Brazil went into their final game with the winner guaranteed to be champions; a draw would be enough for Brazil.
Switzerland 1954:
The fifth World Cup tournament produced a record number of goals, including a 7:5 encounter between Austria and Switzerland in Lausanne.
Sweden 1958:
Brazil presented a 17 year-old Pele to the world; who went on to claim a hat-trick in Brazil's 5:2 semi-final win over France and bag another two in the final.
Chile 1962:
Czechoslovakia overcame Hungary in the quarter-finals and Yugoslavia in the semis, while Brazil took care of England and the host nation, Chile.
England 1966:
Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick, in the final against West Germany, as England triumphed in a thrilling game watched by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
Mexico 1970:
1970 belonged to Pelé, who earned his third World Cup winners' medal when Brazil got their hands on the Jules Rimet Cup.... for keeps.
W. Germany 1974:
Johan Cruyff was the player of the tournament as total football became the buzzword of the day, even though Holland lost to West Germany in the 1974 final.
Argentina 1978:
Holland contested the 1978 World Cup Final, in Argentina, for the second time in a row. As in West Germany,
they again finished runners-up; to the hosts.
Spain 1982:
The Spain 82 World Cup finals increased to 24 teams and the format was changed to have two group stages, with four second-round groups of three.
Mexico 1986:
In 1986, Mexico became the first nation to stage the World Cup Finals for a second time; having only staged the competition sixteen years previously.
Italy 1990:
In 1990, Italy became the World Cup of stalemates. Both semi-finals were drawn out through penalty kicks. In the final itself, the only goal came from the spot.
USA 1994:
Once Team US had played a few games most of the nation began to understand they were hosting the greatest show on earth and how the game was played.
France 1998:
France became the sixth nation to win the World Cup on home soil. Thirty-two teams competed in the 16th World Cup; better known as France 98.
Korea-Japan 2002:
The 17th World Cup, held in Korea and Japan, was the first World Cup finals to be shared by two hosts and the first to be held in Asia.
Germany 2006:
The 2006 World Cup Finals ran from 9th June to 9th July; the opening
match in Munich and the final in Berlin. Munich and Dortmund hosted the
semi-finals.
South Africa 2010:
Eighty years after the First World Cup Finals in Uruguay, the world's most prestigious football competition was finally hosted on the African continent.
Brazil 2014:
Five times World Cup Champions, Brazil, get a second chance to hold the prestigious World Cup Finals; 64 years after they last hosted the tournament.
Russia 2018:
VAR made its World Cup debut and set out to change the course of a game with some crucial rule infringement watching and vital on the spot decisions.
Qatar 2022:
When FIFA executives met in Zurich to decide on who would host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup Finals, Qatar was probably the biggest surprise to many.
United 2026:
The 2026 FIFA World Cup Finals will be jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico
and the United States. The United Bid won the hosting rights ahead of
Morocco.
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