A last minute individual piece of brilliance by the greatest football player in the world , Lionel Messi has deprived Iran of a very deserved draw at least. Messi scored in the 90th minute after receiving the ball outside the box with only one player shadowing him from distance , Reza Ghoochannjad and Nekounam further few feet away. Messi , took his time adjusted and  shifted sideways then curled a fantastic ball to the far right of Haghighi whose flight was not good enough to stop the ball hitting the net. One moment of defensive lapse against the best player that cost Team Melli dearly.

That was not the full the story. The Serbian referee blatantly , unjustifiably failed to observe a foul by Zabeletta on Ashkan Dejagah in the second half.  fear and recrimination has lead this referee to ignore one very obvious penalty call. 

Team Melli was unlucky no to score when a right cross from Pooladi found Ghoochannejad who headed straight at Romero in Argentina’s goal ,  the lose ball was cleared by Argentina defense.

The greatest save of the match and probably the World Cup so far came from a similar side when Heydari crossed for the fast advancing Dejagah , who headed delightful and powerful into the goal, but a magnificent fingertip save denied Iran a well deserved goal.

Then cam the heart break at the end.

The fans should be proud by Team Melli’s performance against one of the strongest teams in the world. It was the combination of  injustice by a poor referee and one moment of magic by Messi that denied Iran. There were some unsavory scene at the end of the game when some bench Team Melli players protested against the referee.