Iran - Nigeria: Laga ke-13 Piala Dunia yang Berakhir Seri
Iran 0-0 Nigeria: Unlucky 13th Game is First Bore Draw at World Cup
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
Curitiba (B2B) - Iran dan Nigeria berbagi satu poin setelah pertemuan keduanya berakhir tanpa gol 0-0 di Stadion Arena da Baixada, Curitiba, Brasil, Selasa dini hari WIB, yang sekaligus menjadi hasil imbang pertama pada putaran final Piala Dunia 2014.
Laga tersebut menjadi laga pertama yang berakhir imbang dan hambar tanpa gol, mengingat 12 pertandingan lain yang sudah berlangsung selama lima hari penyelenggaraan Piala Dunia 2014 berakhir dengan salah satu tim meraih hasil penuh, termasuk kemenangan 2-1 Argentina atas Bosnia Herzegovina yang tergabung di Grup F bersama Iran dan Nigeria, seperti dilansir Yahoo Sports.
Meski tampil dominan dan lebih banyak mengendalikan bola, namun Nigeria kesulitan menembus rapinya organisasi pertahanan Iran yang dikomandoi Mehrdad Pooladi.
Bahkan statistik laman FIFA mencatat, tim Elang Super itu hanya mampu lima kali menemui sasaran dari sembilan percobaan tembakan yang mereka lakukan.
Sementara Iran, meskipun tertekan sepanjang pertandingan memiliki kesempatan lewat sundulan penyerang Reza Ghoochannejhad yang boleh jadi satu-satunya peluang emas yang terlihat dalam laga tersebut, yang memaksa penjaga gawang Vincent Enyeama berjibaku menyelamatkan gawangnya.
Curitiba - Nigeria and Iran delivered the first draw of the World Cup on Monday as they ground out a scrappy 0-0 stalemate in their opening match in Group F.
The draw at the Arena da Baixada in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba followed 12 mostly high scoring and attacking games.
After a first half in which Nigeria failed to capitalize on its dominance, chances were few and far between in the second.
In the early passages of play, Nigeria had shown menace, with much of its attacking thrust coming down the left with Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Moses combining to cause problems for the defensively-minded Iran side.
Nigeria came closest to scoring in the seventh minute when an Ahmed Musa goal was disallowed after John Obi Mikel was adjudged to have fouled Iran goalkeeper Alireza Haghighi at a corner.
Iran grew more confident as the game progressed and came close to scoring in the 34th when a Reza Ghoochannejhad header required a sharp save from Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama.
n the second half, both sides were guilty of sloppy passages of play, to the growing annoyance of the mainly Brazilian crowd. Players from both sides snatched at chances, and neither goalkeeper was troubled despite some frantic late pressure in the final minutes.
