Day 4, Match 2
A TALE OF TWO HALVES
Mexico 3 Iran 1
The Lowdown: Don't know what happened in the respective locker rooms at halftime because the game was turned on its head. Iran headed into the intermission with a 1-1 draw and looked the better team, only to be completely dominated in the second half.
Match Rating: 4 out of 5. Fast paced with lots of counterattacking but a few too many fouls.
Man of the Match: We'll give it to Mexico goalie Sanchez who's father died earlier this week. The Iranian team presented him with flowers beforehand which was very touching.
Disappointment of the Match: ESPN commentator who couldn't help politicizing the game, going on about Iran's nuclear ambitions and the horrors of WWII as if we needed or wanted his opinion.
Huh? Somebody needs to tell Iran that there are two halves in the World Cup. Their second half performance was atrocious in every way. On Mexico's third goal there wasn't a defender anywhere near Naelson. Have to give credit to Mexico though, as they really played well.
The Fallout: Mexico are almost certain to qualify as you'd fancy them to thrash Angola and get at least a point against Portugal. You get the feeling that Iran missed a golden opportunity here. They have a mountain to climb.
Extra: Hard to believe with Mexico's long World Cup history but this is the first time they have ever scored 3 goals at the finals.
posted by Journo Blog at 10:55 AM
2 Comments:
I missed the first half of the 2nd half, so it seems odd to me that you think the two halves were very different. Of what I saw (all of the first half, and the last 20 minutes of the 2nd half), it seems Iran played the same way both halve: poorly.
They were exceptionally sloppy. Mexico came out flat, and Iran had golden opportunities to take a lead that could have let them bury Mexico with physical defense. They could not do so.
They passed terribly, and half the players look down while they are running with the ball. They were quite disappointing, as I was hoping they could pull-off an upset and beat Mexico....Oh well.
I was pulling for Iran too but it appeared to me that they were content with a 1-1 draw and played defensive to open the second half.
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