"The conditions were very hard but the players put their heart and soul into
the match."
Nikola Zigic scored Serbia and Montenegro's first goal at the World Cup,
running off the back off Blaise Kouassi and brought down Dejan Stankovic's long
pass from halfway before easily slotting home after goalkeeper Boubacar Barry
went walkabout.
The African Elephants made it 2-1 in the 35th minute, when Dudic handled the
ball with his hand well above his head punching Boka's cross.
Despite the elimination, Angola, one of the weakest teams viewed by experts
at the tournament, stunned the world by earning a goalless tie with soccer
giants Mexico after losing to powerhouse Portugal 1-0. They won respect from the
fans around the world.
Iran also showed their great skills on the World Cup pitch, playing attacking
football with Mexico and Portugal and even dominating the matches for quite some
time. Despite the two losses, no one could look down upon such an Asian team.
In today's Angola-Iran clash, the two goals all came in the second half.
Angola had their goal in the 60th minute. A right-wing cross from Figueiredo
found substitute Flavio alone at the far post, and Flavio placed his header
beyond the reach of keeper Ebrahim Mirzapour.
Angola coach Luis Oliviera Goncalves said after the match that his players
had made him proud despite bowing out of the World Cup.
And Goncalves said: "We were not intelligent enough to defend our 1-0 lead
but I'm still proud of my players."
"Everyone involved in Angolan football and the people at home can be very
proud of the players."
This was the first goal scored by Angola in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
The Iranians got the equalizer in the 75th when defender Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh
headed home a corner.
In the previous game, Mexico booked their place in the knockout stage though
having paid the price for doing silly things on the pitch and lost their third
and last round robin match 2-1 to Group D leaders Portugal in Gelsenkirchen.
Maniche and Simao Sabrosa scored for Portugal in the first 25 minutes of
Wednesday's match, before Kikin headed in a 29th-minute corner for Mexico.
"We started very well," Mexico coach Ricardo Lavolpe said. "We had control
for long periods but when you have the ball you have to score, and we even
missed a penalty."
"I believe our main problem is scoring," he added. "We had a penalty and
didn't get it in. We have the forwards we need, we get to the opposing
goalkeeper but we must put away our chances.
The Mexicans, who had 4 points from previous two clashes after beating Iran
3-1 and drawing Angola 0-0, still advance to the knockout round after finishing
second in the group ahead of Angola, who were tied 1-1 by Iran after leading for
most of their match simultaneously in Leipzig and earned a second point from the
draw.
Portugal have been guaranteed a berth to next round even before Wednesday's
match with two previous wins, and the 2-1 victory over Mexico completed a
perfect first-round run for them.
"Things couldn't be better," Portugal coach Scolari said. "This was as tough
a game as we had expected, but I asked my players today to make it hard for me
to pick my team for the next round, and they did that."
By topping the Group D on 9 points, Luiz Felipe Scolari's side will be spared
one day for rest and next take the runners-up of Group C, the Netherlands as
Argentina lead the Dutch on goal differences after their scoreless draw on
Wednesday.
The 2002 World Cup winning coach with Brazil had rested all his five booked
players to avoid a possible ruling out for the knockout round, while Mexico
started with six defenders. The absentees are playmaker Deco and Costinha,
winger Cristiano Ronaldo, all-time top scorer Pauleta and defender Nuno Valente.
