World Cup Group F Argentine 1-0 Iran Messi 90 An injury time winner from Lionel Messi was enough to give Argentine a narrow 1-0 victory over a battling Iran who came close to providing the shock of the tournament.
It was 16 years ago that Iran won their first World Cup game and whilst they rarely troubled their more illustrious opponents a scoreless draw would have been a creditable scalp for the Middle East outfit.
Admittedly there was only one team trying to win the game, Argentine, but credit Iran for a determined rearguard action helped by the South American's top players being off the pace for this encounter.
Too often sloppy with their final pass, Argentine gave Iran hope and they defended stubbornly and looked to have gained an unlikely point until Messi intervened.
In fact it could have been much worse for the Argentineans had keeper Sergio Romero not made a fine save from Ashkan Dejagah's header.<
But history was always against the Iranian's as 10 of the last 11 goals they have conceded at the World Cup have arrived in the second half.
And so it proved again as Messi, who had been largely anonymous, showed one moment of World class play to decide the contest and break Iranian hearts.
The Barcelona star collected the ball just outside of the penalty area and with a raft of defenders between him and goal, bent a curling effort into the top corner.
