Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Curitiba: Iran and Nigeria played out the first goalless match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup on Monday as Team Melli put in a resolute defensive display to frustrate the reigning African champions and pick up the first point for an Asian side at Brazil 2014.
Nigeria came flying out of the blocks and Iran keeper Alireza Haghighi had to be alert to deny Victor Moses as the Chelsea winger had the first shot on target with three minutes at the Arena da Baixada played before the Super Eagles thought they had broken the deadlock four minutes later only for Ecuadorean referee Carlos Vera to rule out Ahmed Musa's scrambled effort for a foul on Haghighi following Moses' inswinging corner.
Musa almost opened the scoring on the half-hour mark when he saw Haghighi off his line and intelligently curled a free-kick towards the open goal but the Iran keeper did well to adjust his position and palm the ball to safety.
Five minutes later it was the turn of Nigeria keeper Vincent Enyeama to impress when the Super Eagles skipper made a superb reflex save to keep out Reza Ghoochannejad's header and deny Team Melli the opener.
Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi looked to bolster his attack by withdrawing Moses and bringing in former Newcastle United striker Shola Ameobi seven minutes into the second-half as the pattern of the West Africans dominating possession but posing little threat on the Iranian goal continued.
Keshi, who earlier had to replace the injured Godfrey Oboabona with veteran Joseph Yobo in the 39th minute, made his third and final substitution when he brought on Stoke city winger Peter Odemwinge in place of Ramon Azeez with 20 minutes left to play.
Seven minutes later it was Iran's turn to freshen things up when Carlos Queiroz took off Ashkan Dejegah and replaced the Fulham winger with the exciting 20-year-old Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who also plays his club football in Europe having joined Dutch side NEC from Damash Gilan last July.
A vital stoppage-time intervention from Mehrdad Pooladi prevented Ameobi getting a clear chance on goal before the Persepolis defender was again on hand to block a goal-bound header from the same player from the resulting corner in what was the last real chance of a hard-fought encounter.
Photo: AFP