LiveBlog: Portugal-Iran

Portugal took a 1-0 lead in the 62nd minute after a goal by Deco, and a penalty kick by Cristiano Ronaldo put the game away in the 89th minute. Portugal is going through and Iran is headed home, and now we can all go about figuring out the various ways that Angola can still make it through to the second round.

Final: Portugal 2-0 Iran

95:15 A goal for Portugal called offsides a few seconds before time runs out.

94:05 Portugal almost gets another one off the goal kick is headed downfield and a portugal player takes a pass/shot that goes just wide.
93:00 Obligatory close up shot of the adidas ball disappearing on the goal kick.

92:12 Corner for Iran!

91:01 Corner for Portugal. Iran may go this entire game without one.

90:00 5 minutes of injury time.

87:55 Ronaldo just misses on a bending free kick.

87:32 He’s booked as he limps off the field.

85:04 GOLMOHAMMADI down with his hand on his face and the stretcher next to him. I can’t tell what is hurt after watching the replay.

83:48 The facial welt from Figo’s mid-air collision seems to be growing by the minute.

82:00 Good to see this kind of result after Portugal outplayed Iran all game long.

80:15 Looks like Iran won’t be heading through the first round.

79:32 Penalty’s good, goal Portugal.

78:21 Figo is tripped up in the goal box and Ronaldo is taking the Penalty kick

77:07 Cross from the right to an Iran forward looks good headed toward the goal but the goalie’s there.

75:47 Iran’s free kick is sent off the two man wall and after checking for a bloody nose play resumes.

73:57 Ronaldo breaks out of two defenders but can’t quite get the pass through.

72:38 Kaebi booked for tripping Ronaldo on the sideline. Good call.

71:25 “Ecken” means “corner” in German (I think) and Portugal is leading in that category 10-0.

70:20 Corner for portugal taken short and then taken away by Iran who again doesn’t get past midfield.

68:38 Iran’s Khatibi gets open about four feet in front of the net and beats the goalie but sends the ball wide. Iran may not get another chance like that.

67:11 Iran’s Hashemian with a nice shot from long distance, no goal.

65:31 Four or five subs between both teams, I can’t keep up with everyone but Petit for Portugal in for Maniche.

64:39 I just want to say that that was kind of a dive by Ronaldo and it was kind of late.

63:45 Deco connects from just outside the goal box, blowing the ball past the goalie on the left post.

62:31 Goal Portugal!

60:08 Figo gets a shot through but the save is a foregone conclusion. Iran counterattack gets tripped up and Portugal’s Costinha gets booked.

58:12 Portugal has run out of ideas. Iran really didn’t have any to begin with and everybody seems happy to hang around midfield.

55:45 Mahvadikia beats one guy all by himself but gets caught up in the remaining three. On the counterattack, Iran once again just kinds of runs out of ideas after midfield.

55:02 Ronaldo beats his man one on one and makes the goalie dive to the post. Solid shot.

52:45 Fancy behind the back, back heel pass goes out, but it wasn’t a terrible idea.

51:42 Portugal one touching around midfield, I’m still thinking they’re just trying to make Iran run and wear them out.

50:20 Irn on the counter attack can’t seem to get organized or any kind of spacing.

45:38 Portugal looks like they’ve got a more refined plan for the half. Yellow card for Deco after what looks like a replay of the Figo incident.

45:01 I’m going to (try to) lay off the Ronaldo comments for the half.

Halftime: 45 minutes, no goals, a foot to Figo’s face and a bunch of unnecessary dancing around the ball. Portugal should be thrashing this Iran team but can’t seem to get anything through.

47:04 Off the scale Ronaldo pout. That brings it up to like a 9.7 on the scale.

45:00 Ronaldo watches too many Nike commercials.

43:50 Miguel back on, makes a run for the goal on the right side and gets it under the goalie, who deflects it just wide of the goal. Miguel looks fine now.

41:45 Miguel gets a knock to the head and he’s down for a minute. He looks woozy and doesn’t sem to know where he is. Incidental contact.

40:30 Iran stays onsides in an attack but in doing so forfeits their advantage. They’re still looking for that first corner kick.

38:50 Ronaldo gets knocked down and the camera kindly cuts away. I will say, he’s always around the ball and making things happen.

37:50 Iran puts some passes together but at the end the attack just kind of runs out of gas.

36:11 Figo takes a boot to the nose and on the replay of Ronaldo’s barely missed shot we actually see more of a grimace. Amazing.

34:45 Ron. almost puts it in but misses by about 4 inches wide right. Figo catches a boot in the face a few seconds later and he’s still down.

34:05 Ronaldo’s header is nice to the far post but an Iran player is there with his chest.

33:24 Portugal’s leading on corner’s 7-0

32:18 Ronaldo’s dancing around the ball… superfluous or unnecessary?

31:11 The crowd cheers Madanchi knocking Ronaldo down but Madanchi still gets the yellow card.

30:00 Iran goes offsides then sends the ball off the left post.

29:07 Figo’s corner is sent in the direction of the goal after a header, stupid camera angles make it look like it went in but it was wide right.

27:01 Figo dancing around the ball on the sideline just looks so much more productive.

25:00 Portugal keeps pushing the ball up the right side, probably to avoid the locker room whining because you know who plays on that side.

24:07 That was reminiscent of the great Angola performance last night, and wouldn’t you know it, both keepers are named Ricardo.

23:30 Free kick for Iran is almost sent into the net off a header, goalie gets there first.

20:30 Deco sends a pass a little too far, brings the goalie out and it looked like prime time for a Portugal goal.

19:10 Iran yellow card for Nekounam. That’s his second of the first round, so he’s out against Angola.

18:28 Iran’s 20 minute fitness collapse may be coming up.

17:01 C Ronaldo on camera pout count: 3.

15:34 Maniche is going to score from outside of 30 m tonight, another deflected strike off a set piece.

13:20 Iran gets a perfect pass over the top of the defense and for a moment has a clear path. He has to slow up though and gets nothing.

11:44 Deco with a nice shot on goal that turns into a corner for Portugal.

10:28 Ok, nice play Cristiano, turned the corner around the defense and put it right in front of the goal. If only Portugal had better players to finish those godsent passes.

7:00 Ronaldo moves for position against a defender during a corner, throws his hands in the air because the guy is getting in his way. Ref comes over, “He spent over $90 on that haircut, don’t mess it up!”

6:40 Looks like Iran’s pacing themselves by abandoning the ball somewhere near midfield. Probably smart after the fitness levels demonstrated.

5:17 Long shot attempt by Maniche.

4:40 Mostly midfield play so far after that first Portugal chance about 3o seconds into the game.

3:07 We’ve gotten several games so far with a goal in the first four minutes, doesn’t look like this is going to me one of them. Iran keeping a slow pace.

01:00 Figo with some fancy sideline footwork, ends up kicking the ball out and falling down. He’s slow getting up, looks like he could have used that pregame carpet as a mat.

00:23 We’re back from commercial and it seems we missed the kick-off and the first few seconds. Almost missed Portugal goal too but it didn’t quite go through.

Iran somehow escaped from the last game with only one yellow card.

Iran wins the award for the best pre game gifts. Another Persian carpet.

First pout comes before the anthem: C. Ronaldo’s pouting because the kid walking him out is better looking than him.

So if you were Iran’s coach and your team had demonstrated an utter lack of fitness last game, how would you have reacted? Run your team into the ground between games? Let them rest?

All of the teams are still mathematically alive, but if Iran loses this game they’re done. Angola can still qualify if they can win a game and Mexico can lose… and there are about 100 different variations of this scenario that can still play out.

If anyone understands the possible outcomes of this group based on this game, I’d like to see you try to explain it in the comments.

45 minutes to kick off, it’s cloudy out, so I’m predicting at least a 9.5 on the C. Ronaldo pout meter today.

Pregame: Should be an interesting match. Who do you think will win?