Argentina-Iran: Quotes

FIFA.com – BELO HORIZONTE, After Lionel Messi’s injury time winner against an excellent Iranian side, both coaches commented the game.

Alejandro Sabella, Argentina coach
It was very difficult. We had the possession and the control in the first half and we created three clear-cut chances and had a few dead-ball situations too. Iran played a great game. They defended deep and hit us on the counter, creating some good chances. We were tired at the end after exerting so much energy, and it became an end-to-end match, which didn’t suit us. Fortunately for us (Sergio) Romero was up to the job. I made the changes to try and open the pitch up and create some space for us. We have to have a good look at what happened and try to improve. We have a few causes for concern.

Carlos Queiroz, Iran coach
I’m proud of my players because we competed for the whole 90 minutes. The game panned out just as we expected: Argentina had control of the ball and Iran were organised in defence, disciplined and very focused. We tried to deny them space when they attacked, but then I put two strikers on because we wanted to win and you have to take risks if you want to do that. If we’d scored, we would probably have made life harder for Argentina. The fact is, though, that Messi can change games just like that. He kept looking and looking and in the end he got his reward.