A Disappointing Finale to Iran’s Incredible, Spirited World Cup

In the end, dogged and disciplined defending wasn't quite enough. It's hard to imagine what Iran could have done differently or better given the players available to them and the circumstances in which they prepared for the tournament, but ultimately they simply didn't have the cutting edge to score the goals they needed to make it through to the last 16 for the first time. 

Iran battled bravely and won many friends with their spirited performance against Argentina, but ultimately a team that scores only once in three games is never going to go far. Carlos Queiroz could organize a side to defend well and make it as difficult as possible for opponents, but he couldn't create magic from nothing. There were touchline histrionics from him in the second half; he raged again and again about the choice of pass made as Iran came forward, suggesting how frustrated he was—but a coach is always beholden to his players.  He could sort out the defending up to a point, but the attacking is down largely to he capacity of the players.

A 3-1 defeat to Bosnia-Herzegovina was a disappointing way to end. One suspects that earlier in the tournament, when they weren't looking for a win, Iran might have forced a 0-0 draw—in general, this was a tournament from which they could glean encouragement. In the end, they were undone by one moment of magic from Lionel Messi.

The Bosnia coach Safet Susic made five changes to the side that had lost so tamely to Nigeria as he desperately sought to restore some pride and deflect some of the criticism that has already come his way. Sead Kolasinac was restored at left-back as Bosnia reverted to a 4-4-2 formation similar to that used in qualification. Senad Lulic, the Lazio winger, had started at left-back in that previous game, Susic's intention presumably being that he should overlap Zvjezdan Misimovic, who was playing on the left of the creative trident. Nigeria had taken full advantage of Lulic's lack of defensive experience, repeatedly exposing that area with long diagonals. With Kolasinac back, though, that avenue was closed to Iran.

Susic also included his nephew Tino-Sven Susic on the left and Anel Hadzic on the right at the expense of Mismovic and Izet Hajrovic, making the midfield far more functional than might have been the case. With Iran retaining the same side that had lost so narrowly to Argentina and, at least in the early stages, playing with a similar sense of caution, the result was a game that started as a dour midfield stand-off. 

Edin Dzeko, playing with a sense of controlled fury, as though he were fuming at Bosnia's underperformance in their first two games, offered the only real prospect of a goal in the opening quarter of the game, his aerial presence a persistent menace. Sure enough, having held off Jalal Hosseini to fashion a chance that he blasted just wide after four minutes, it was the Manchester City striker who opened the scoring midway through the half. Although he took his chance well, accelerating past Mehrdad Pooladi before clipping a low shot into the bottom corner from 25 yards, this wasn't a screamer in the way Messi's had been. It said much for how well and how deep Iran had defended that it took long-range efforts to beat them, but here there was perhaps a sense that Dzeko hadn't quite been closed down quickly enough, that he had almost been invited to shoot.

Inevitably that prompted a response. Iran had to look to take the initiative, 4-5-1 becoming 4-2-3-1. There was an early chance of an equalizer, Masoud Shojaei hitting the bar with an effort from the edge of the box, but that gave a misleading sense of the level of threat. Bosnia did what Iran had done in their previous two games, setting out two banks of four and closing down the space. Unlike Iran, though, they didn't sit deep, pushing instead out on occasions to play offside, something that helped frustrate Iran. The frequency with which Iran fell into the trap perhaps suggested a degree of anxiety.       

Iran's inability to create led to a strange second half. They needed to score twice to have a chance of going through—and as the goals flew in in the game between Argentina and Nigeria, they soon needed to score three times. Yet they were insipid, lacking the thrust or drive or guile to open Bosnia up. Their threat was vague, ill-defined. The game-plan, you imagine, had been to keep things tight and pinch a goal on the break; once Bosnia scored and the task became not just one but two goals, there was an inevitability to the outcome.

Iran's fate was sealed 14 minutes into the second half, as possession was cheaply squandered and Dzeko laid in Miralem Pjanic to tuck in a neat finish. Suddenly Iran needed to score four to make it through, which was such a remote possibility it may as well have been 24. Queiroz did throw on Alireza Jahan Bahsh for Ehsan Hajisafi, but it was a substitution made more in hope than expectation. The change in shape to 4-4-2 only served to leave Iran open.

A long ball into the box eventually led to Javad Nekounam crossing for Reza Ghoochannejhad to score, but just as it seemed there might be the chance of a late siege, the glimmer of hope was snuffed out as Avdija Vrsajevic ran the length of the right flank to score with a neat finish as Iran overcommitted to the attack.

And that, really, was their problem. As long as they could defend and look to stifle the opposition, Iran were fine; their problem came that as soon as they tried to attack. They left themselves open: they needed those men behind the ball to retain defensive solidity, but with the men behind the ball, they never looked like scoring.