Argentina 1 - Iran 0: Late Lionel Messi strike breaks Iranian hearts

MESSI TIME: A second wonderful individual moment from Lionel Messi at the World Cup puts Argentina into the last 16 [GETTY]

With Argentina facing up to one of the most embarrassing results in World Cup history, their boss Alex Sabella was staring down the barrel.
Iran, coached by the former Manchester United No.2 Carlos Quieroz (below), were bang on top and on another day would have already been ahead with Fulham’s Ashkan Dejagah twice going close and having a decent shout for a penalty.
But just when all hope looked to be lost, up popped Messi with a superb strike to send the Argies into the last 16.
It was seriously gut-wrenching for the hard-working Iranian team – but sheer and utter relief for the South Americans.

With Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain both having absolute stinkers, it was left for Messi to dig Sabella out of a huge hole with his second goal of the tournament.
But despite this defeat, Quieroz’s battlers are still in the tournament going into the last game against Bosnia.
Iran set up to frustrate but after just four minutes the Persians almost took the lead, Jalal Hosseni almost taking advantage of woeful Argentina defending but he just failed to make a decent contact.
Messi and Co were enjoying lots of the ball but the problem was they kept coming up against a red Iranian brick wall.

Javier Mascherano playing for Argentina against Iran [GETTY]

Napoli ace Higuain finally wriggled free on 15 minutes but Alireza Haghighi came off his line superbly.
Chances continued to come and go, though, with Aguero missing a free header before Ezequiel Garay flashed one just wide of the post.
You really feared Iran’s legs would go but they were superb after the break as well.
Fulham’s Dejagah almost won a penalty after being hauled down in the box by Pablo Zabaleta before Sergio Romero brilliantly tipped over a header from the Cottagers ace.
The hugely disappointing strike pairing of Aguero and Higuain were both hauled off with ten minutes still to play as Sabella looked to mix it up and force a winner.
His heart would have been jumping out of his mouth as the clock ticked over to 85 minutes when Reza was sent clean through but his shot was easily parried by Romero.
Iran were almost there – but then that man Messi stole the show.
A bitterly disappointed Queiroz said: “At the end, two personalities in the game made the difference. The number one was the ref. The second was Messi.”
Queiroz was unhappy that a penalty claim was denied when Dejagah was felled by Zabaleta although the Argentina defender made contact with the ball.
Sensing an upset might be possible at 0-0, Iran were bolder in the second half.
Lone striker Reza Ghoochannejhad broke free in the 53rd minute but shot at Argentine goal-keepr Sergio Romero before Dejagah saw a strong header tipped over.
Then Ghoochannejhad got behind theArgentine defence in the 86th minute but saw his shot again well saved by Romero.
Argentina coach Sabella said: “In the first half we had four or fi ve chances to score and in the second half, they staged counter-attacks but Messi solved it.”