No miracle for Angola

Angola can go home with a feeling of a job well done. Even though they didn't qualify for the knockout stages, the Africans showed during this tournament that they deserved to be in the World Cup.

Although the encounter against Iran on Wednesday lacked real intensity and was pretty poor technically, both teams nevertheless put their hearts into the game and the coaches can be proud of their players.

Angola coach Luis Oliveira Goncalves was happy with the way his players performed, despite their apparent lack of experience when they were in the lead:

"We were not intelligent enough to defend our 1-0 lead but I'm nonetheless proud of my players," the one they call the "Professor" said. "Today's match was a little bit of bad football but in the end I think a draw was a fair result," he added.

The Iranians drew first blood, when Ferydoon Zandi entered the box from the left and fired a shot which keeper Joao Ricardo did well to parry.

The first 25 minutes were marred with two injuries, for Iranian Mohammad Nosrati and Angolan Mateus.

Following these two substitutions, Vahid Hashemian came close to opening the score but his header was cleared off the line by Mendonca. Angola captain Akwa replied with two consecutive shots, both of which failed to hit the target.

Half-time came along and Mexico trailing to Portugal meant that Angola were in with a real chance of getting through to the second round.

Angola came back on for the second half with the desire to push forward and get that crucial goal which would give them hope. Mendonca had his shooting boots on and his first effort of the half was just off target, with Iran keeper Ebrahim Mirzapour looking beaten.

The Africans took the lead on the hour mark with a well-worked goal. Ze Kalanga took the ball down the right wing on the break and delivered a perfect cross towards the far post, where a badly marked substitute Flavio had all the time in the world to place a powerful header out of reach from Mirzapour.

Barely ten minutes later, Angola could've had a second identical goal, but this time Love's header was saved by Mirzapour.

This missed opportunity gave Iran the boost they needed to get back into the game and they eventually got the equalizer, when Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh pounced onto a Mehdi Mahdavikia corner to header the ball into the opposite bottom corner.

From then on the game faded away, both teams losing possession frequently and lacking inspiration in their final passes. Ali Daei with a header and Mendonca from a free-kick came close but in the end, the draw seemed like a fair result.

Although none of the teams seemed to control the game, Iran coach Branko Ivankovic believes his side were on top during the whole game:

"We dominated the 90 minutes and perhaps deserved a victory today," said the Croat. "The conditions were very hard but the players put their heart and soul into the match."