-Soul Sword-
The match started with aggressive gameplay from both sides, who kept earning free kicks due the repeated fouls committed. Spain was in a great form as compared to Iran as they had 77 % of ball possession and attempts at goal. When almost half an hour had passed Spain’s Silva attempted a shot at goal but failed to do so. Iran had its entire team defending the goalpost whenever Spain had the possession of the ball making it next to impossible to breach their defence. The first half ended with a 0-0 score.
The second half commenced with Spain desperately trying to score. At 48’ Spain’s Sergio Busquets came in with a great shot on goal but Iranian Goalkeeper Ali Beiranvand came in with an amazing save and instantly saved it yet again when Lucas came in with a rebound. 5 minutes later Iran nearly scored but the shot went wide. The breakthrough for Spain came at 53’ when Diego Costa scored off a pass making the score 1-0 in Spain’s favour. Spain persistently tired to score, wanting to put a greater margin of victory between them but weren’t able to get through. At 63’ Iran scored a goal and was celebrating the equaliser, but to their dismay, the referee referred VAR and ruled it out as an offside. After a series of free kicks, a few close attempts at goal Iran finally earned a free kick at 92’ which was saved by the Spanish goalkeeper David De Gea. Spain won the match 1-0 putting them with Portugal at 4 points on the table in Group B. This was Gerard Pique’s 100th cap playing for Spain. Spain will be playing against Morocco (who are already eliminated) in their next match.
The Writers Room 