[toggle title=”President the football fan” state=”open” ]The President of Iran Hassan Rouhani elected to watch the match at the comfort of home. President Rouhani planned to attend at least one of the matches in Brazil , however , developments in Middle East and the situation in Iraq has probably made those plans unachievable.

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[toggle title=”Players quotes” state=”open” ]  Nekounam “If we can win any of the two matches , we would be achieving a great thing. . I thought we played a good game, closed our area well , played according to the coach plans and could have won this one if we were more focused.”

“It is not going to be any easier against Argentina , but we must carry on this strong defensive strategy”

Teymourian ” We carried out whatever the coach dictated upon us. We manage to control the match rhythm , contain the Nigerians who have many European based players and is a good team. In fact , I think we could have won the game.” “We have a heavy duty carrying the aspiration of 75 million Iranians ,

  “We should not be under any illusion that Argentina will be a much more difficult opposition. We simply need to try harder and harder.”

Davari ” I am quite happy that we have achieved the result that we were looking for and got our first point in the World Cup. I am also very happy for Alireza Haghighi , he is a young keeper and has done pretty well in the match.”

“Argentina is one of the best teams in the world, We will have a difficult task ahead, but will not go there to admire them. We have to compete against them”

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[toggle title=”Cash Reward” state=”open” ]Every member of Team Melli was awarded US$ 3,000 as a token of appreciation from the football federation after Iran’s goalless draw with Nigeria .[/toggle]

[toggle title=”Iran defence frustrates Chelsea player.” state=”open” ]John Obi Mikel has expressed disappointment at Iran’s game plan and claimed they wanted to frustrate Nigeria after the sides played out a goalless draw in their 2014 World Cup Group F game.

The Chelsea midfielder expressed his unhappiness at the outcome and claimed Iran played for the draw while Nigeria wanted to win. He told a news conference: “We are all disappointed. The first game of every tournament is very important. When you watch the way Iran played, they had 11 men behind the ball the entire game and it was hard for us to create chances. “They sat back and it became difficult. It was a game we wanted to win, but they wanted to play a bit different.”

Hard luck Obi Mikel, but Iran did not park the bus like your team Chelsea did against Atletico Madrid. No apologies from Team Melli for not allowing you to score [/toggle]

[toggle title=”Stephen Keshi reaction” state=”open” ][quote]We wanted to score in the first 20 minutes, but they defended in numbers and we couldn’t get through. When you get that type of situation, you can get wound up because you just want to score, and to do that you need to stay calm. You have to give Iran their due. They decided to play that way and their game-plan worked for them.[/quote][/toggle]

[toggle title=”Carlos Queiroz reaction” state=”open” ]Nigeria’s big names tried to make the difference after the break and to take control of the game. That’s when we stepped our game up a level by doubling up a lot on their players. The fans didn’t see any goals but sometimes intensity, togetherness, focus and team spirit can make for an interesting spectacle.[/toggle]