Favorite Argentina failed to impress as resolute Iran went down fighting by the barest of the margin. It required the Argentina super star the left footed genius Lionel Messie to earn full points from a match against a fighting Iran which came so near of earning goal less draw against a football super power.

It came in the first minute of added time like the first match Messie magic had to save the favorites from an embarrassment. Judging from the overall pattern of the game it was a real harsh out come to the Iran team which so richly deserved a point from the match. Favorites failed to impress.

Two wins assured Argentina advance to the second round. Luckily Magical Messie was there to earn them a very difficult win. Argentina will need to improve a lot if they want to go deep into the event.
Attack looks to have limited idea to break tight defence. The Argentina defence also looks vulnerable against high balls and fast moving counter attacks. Iran also got a few opportunities and came close to scoring.

Against better teams in business session Argentina may not survive if there is no major improvement. One Messie will not win them matches all the time we are afraid. Till now Argentina appears to be the only South American team which failed to impress even in its second game and must consider themselves lucky to earn full points.

First half showed little actions with Iran defending doggedly, giving very little space to the surging Argentineans. Messie magic was hardly experienced during this period other than two left footed free kicks .Higuin missed the first real chance of the game failing to react quickly when set free by Gago as early as thirteenth minutes of the game .Iranian Goal Keeper Reza blocked and snatched the ball from his feet. Iran hardly came into attack and was kept busy defending most of the time as expected.

Agueiro, di Maria kept probing with Gago and Zabaleta constantly feeding them with strings of beautiful defence splitting passes. Iranian Goal Keeper Reza Haghigi again made a great save off Aguiero in the 21st minute .Great Messie was hardly seen into action. Messie was tripped at the edge of Iranian area in the 32 nd minutes conceding a free kick in the business area .Messie fired a left footer high over Ali Reza Haghighi .

Iran conceded another free kick at 35th the Iranian goal mouth could not be utilized with goal keeper almost wrong footed. Iran had an opportunity from a corner when a header from Iranian midfielder soared over the cross piece.

Argentina had 73% of the ball possession but they failed to break the ice much to the anxiety of their fans. Iranians played well within their limit and could hardly advance into attacks. But even from their rare attacks Argentinian centre defence did not look compact and assured missing flights of high balls.

The individual brilliance of little master Messie in breaking through tight defence of Iran was keenly felt during this period. Iranian defence appeared looked impregnable during this period. Argentina bus appeared to have held with handbrakes in the first half. Time and again Argentina advanced into danger area but the final touch was missing as Iran sat deep to offer space.

Argentina failed to widen the field changing the attack from wing to wing creating space Messie running down. Iranian Goal Keeper Reza must also be credited for keeping Argentinians at bay in the first half with couple of great saves. Argentina could neither speed up the game or swtich line of attack missing their second or third plan during the period.

Argentina definitely did not have a clue how to find space through a very thick Iranian defence. Everytime an Argentina got ball one or two red shirts approached strongly to block and challenge him.

The second half started in similar fashion with Argentina was attacking and Iran was defending. From a rapid counter attack Iran almost shocked the favorites at 51 minutes of the game when Meherdad Paoladi headed strongly from a tantalizing cross from the flank. .Romero had the first real engagement of the game thwarting the move. A Messie attempt of his lovely run and curling low left footer was little off the mark in the 58th a goal for Iran in the 63rd minute.

Iran started coming more and more in the game as Argentina started tiring a little bit. Dejagah almost scored with a header which Romero smartly tipped over.

Argentina got another free kick when de Mraia brought down at the edge of the Iran penalty area. Messie left footer struck the side netting .Iranian Goal keeper again made a great save off de Maria at 74th Aguiero and Higuin were replaced for their lack of effectively. Still there was hardly any telling impact in Argentine attack. Iranian goal keeper time and again came to the rescue of the team. Argentina could rarely create anything for their maestro Messie.

But given very little opportunity Argentinean maestro curled around the defence and the goal keeper with a smart left footer to break the ice in the sea to beautify Argentine blue heaven. His solo again saved the day for Argentina in the first minute of the added time. Iran has reasons to feel hard done as they so richly deserved at least a point from the match. Though Argentina scraped through into the knock out stage it will require huge improvement for them to further advance.

If they remain business as usual so far seen any other team going there will break their hearts. A team can earn nothing whatever beautiful football they play unless they can score.

The two matches Argentina played demonstrated the lack of expertize and innovations in attacks for scoring.

BDST: 0035 HRS, JUNE 22, 2014