Group D
Portugal 2, Iran 0
A sublime 63rd-minute long-range strike by midfielder Deco and an 80th minute penalty by Cristiano Ronaldo gave Portugal a hard-fought 2-0 win to send Iran packing from the World Cup yesterday.
The defeat means Iran have no points from their two Group D matches following their 3-1 defeat by Mexico in the opening match.
Portugal head the group on 6 points ahead of Mexico on 4.
From the start, Portugal found it tough to penetrate the packed defense of an Iranian team.
Deco, making his first World Cup outing, came close in the 12th minute when his left-footed strike produced a good one-handed save from Iranian goalkeeper Ebrahim Mirzapour.
Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari had fielded the Barcelona star, recovered from injury, along with Franciso Costinha and Maniche in place of Armando Petit, Tiago and Simao Sabrosa.
Manchester United winger Ronaldo fired just wide in the 35th minute and he and Luis Figo were always lively, but Iran held firm as it banked on counter-attacks.
Figo did connect 10 minutes later -- caught in the face by the high boot of a lunging Hossein Kaebi in what looked like a blatant challenge which was unspotted by French referee Eric Poulat.
The Portuguese striker was back in defense to make a crucial interception off Hashemian shortly after, and Portugal's attacking right back Miguel was unlucky after a barnstorming run, Mirzapour almost deflecting into his own net as the first half closed.
Ten minutes into the second half, Ronaldo forced another good Mirzapour save as he broke through on the left an hit a fierce left- foot shot. But just after the hour he had no chance against Deco.
Figo held the ball on the left, then cut in and put it at Deco's feet, and the Brazilian-born midfielder sweetly struck a screaming 25-yard shot into Mirzapour's top right-hand corner.
Moments after coming on as a substitute, Rasoul Khatibi had the Iranian fans believing a point was salvaged in the 68th minute as he stormed in -- only to hit wide.
Ricardo was again stretched in the 78th minute off Hashemian -- but Iran's demise was sealed moments later when captain Yahya Golmohammadi brought Figo down just inside the penalty area.
Ronaldo sent Mirzapour the wrong way with the spot kick -- and the Portuguese relief in wrapping up the victory was palpable.
Full report in tomorrow's edition of the Taipei Times.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier