Spain’s Costa piles on pain

A scrappy second-half goal by Diego Costa broke a Persian stonewall and lifted Spain to a 1-0 win over a courageous Iran in a nerve-jangling World Cup clash yesterday.

Costa claimed his third goal of the tournament in the 54th minute at Kazan Arena but the striker hardly knew about it, the ball deflecting off his legs from an attempted clearance by hapless Iran defender Ramin Rezaeian.

The result left Spain joint top of their group with Portugal on four points, with Iran close behind on three going into the final set of games. After two defeats, Morocco are out.

After a match played out to a deafening blare from vuvuzela horns from a huge army of Iranian fans, Spain will feel relieved to have emerged with maximum points.

Iran were brilliant in defence for much of the night but also made a number of telling incursions.

A goal by Saeid Ezatolahi was ruled out offside after being reviewed by the video assistant referee (VAR), while Karim Ansarifard earlier hammered into the side netting.

Iran fans all but tore their hair out late on when Vahid Amiri brilliantly nutmegged a defender to send a cross into Mehdi Taremi, but the forward sent a very gettable header from six yards out sailing over.

Iran coach Carlos Queiroz had rung in the changes, dropping captain Masoud Shojaei and forward Alireza Jahanbakhsh to the bench, while recalling holding midfielder Ezatolahi from suspension and promoting Taremi.

The expectation that they would play well back was unfounded, however, even if they kept their shape superbly, restricting Spain to a handful of chances in the first half.

David Silva sent a free kick into the arms of keeper Ali Beiranvand in the 25th minute for Spain’s first shot on goal.

Silva was in the thick of it again at the half hour, with a pirouette and a volley over the crossbar at the end of a string of looping headers.

Silva found a rare metre of space just before the break and was denied again by a deflection off a player.

Spain seemed rejuvenated after the interval, with Sergio Busquets unleashing a searing long-range strike that forced Beiranvand into a brilliant double save.

Minutes later, however, Ansarifard latched onto a poor clearance and unleashed a withering shot that fired just wide of the left post.

Costa, who grabbed a brace in the 3-3 draw against Portugal, was in the right spot at the right time, his lucky deflection leaving the masses of Iran fans at the arena groaning in disappointment.

Meanwhile, Luis Suarez marked his 100th international cap by sending Uruguay into the last 16 as the striker benefited from some poor goalkeeping to eliminate Saudi Arabia with a 1-0 win.

Suarez tapped in midway through the first half after keeper Mohammed Al-Owais failed to grab the ball on a corner.

It put Uruguay second in Group A with a maximum six points behind hosts Russia.

Saudi Arabia, who have not won a World Cup game since their debut in 1994, have zero points, just like Egypt, who lost 3-1 to Russia on Tuesday.

Depending on the result of their last group game against Russia, Uruguay will take on either Spain, Portugal or Iran, who are still on course in Group B for a place in the quarterfinals.

Suarez’s 52nd international goal was by no means pretty, but it did the trick.

“All we wanted was to win and qualify for the next round. Today was another demonstration that it is so difficult to win a game in a World Cup,” manof-the-match Suarez said.

“This World Cup is proving that what matters most is the result, and we’re very proud to have reached the last 16 for the third time in a row.”

- Reuters