97th minute penalty salvages draw for Croatia against Iran

PFDC, Osijek
Croatia and Iran fought to a 2-2 draw in Osijek in an friendly match on Sunday evening. Although the homeside dominated the proceedings for the whole 90 minutes, Iran eventually were unlucky not to be the first ever nation to defeat Croatia on their hometurf, as the Croatian refereeing trio in their last international appearance first ruled out a correct third Iranian goal, before surprisingly adding on five minutes of stoppage time and awarding Croatia a penalty in the very last minute.

Iran, who had to do without Mehdi Mahdavikia (back injury) started well against Croatia’s best 11 and had two chances in the opening seven minutes, before the hosts overtook the initiative and outplayed the shaky Iranian defense repeatedly. However, thanks to poor finishing, last second clearances by Rahman Rezaei and Hossein Kaebi as well as a good performing goalkeeper Ebrahim Mirzapour Iran held the deadlock.

Meanwhile Iran’s technically good offensive players remained a constant threat and after wasting good oportunities helped Iran going ahead after 21 minutes. Leftback Mohammad Nosrati took the ball forward with an energetic run and finally found Vahid Hashemian on the left wing. The Hannover striker dribbled into the area, layed back to Nosrati, who’s effort became the perfect serving for Ali Karimi, who slotted hom with his left foot.

Croatia responded ten minutes later, meanwhile under pouring rain, when Darijo Srna’s cross found Ivan Klasnic on the far post, who headed the ball back to center, where Niko Kranjcar tipped the ball on to Dado Prso who equalized with a well placed shot.

A good header by Klasnic and a nice shot from outside the area from the today very poor performing Ali Daei remained the only further scoring opportunities in first half.

Either coach made two substitutions at halftime, Iran boss Branko Ivankovic replacing the not fully fit key players Karimi and Fereydoon Zandi by Mehrzad Madanchi and Sohrab Bakhtiyarizadeh.

The 20.000 fans inside the stadium saw a calmer second period, with an offensively harmless guest team, which, however, held on to the draw. Iran almost regained the lead in minute 67, when lively substitute striker Arash Borhani stole the ball from keeper Stipe PLetikosa at the edge of the box and layed the ball back to the today disappointing Javad Nekounam, but the defensive midfielder’s lob narrowly missed the open net.

But eight minutes from time Borhani himself took advantage of another terrible blunder of Croatia. The Pas Tehran striker intercepted Autria Vienna defender Mario Tokic’s bad squareball at the edgo of the penalty area and made it 2-1 with a great lob over Pletikosa.

Iran scored the 3-1 two minutes from time, when Borhani broke through the Croatian defense and curled the ball into the net, however, a wrong offside call by Croatian referee Ciric ruled out the correct goal.

The referee from the host nation again played a decisive role short time later, when he, depsite no bigger delays had occured during second half, added five minutes of injury time.

In minute 95, Mirzapour appeared to collect a long ball, however, the wet ball slipped from his hands and Olic got a foot to it before being pulled back by Mirzapour. Although Olic had no chance of reaching the ball because Kaebi had already cleared in center and theatrically falling, Ciric of course awarded a penalty kick. Indeed Mirapour had the biggest share of responsibility by first failing to control the ball and then unnecessarily pulling Olic back - very unfortunate for the Foolad Khuzestan keeper, who had shown an excellent performance before that scene.

Marko Babic converted the spotkick in minute 97 to prevent Croatia from suffering their first ever home defeat since becoming independent in 1992.

Of course considering the Croatians dominance, the draw was more than deserved, however, considering the circumstances Iran was unlucky not to win.

Iran’s next and final test will come gainst Bosnia & Herzegovina in Tehran on Wednesday, while Croatia will still take on Poland and Argentina.

Croatia - Iran 2-2 (1-1)

Friendly match, Osijek

Attendance: 20.000

Referee: Ciric (CRO)

Goals:
0-1 Karimi (21′)
1-1 Prso (31′)
1-2 Borhani (82′)
2-2 Babic (97′/Pen.)

Lineups:

Croatia: Pletikosa - Simic, Tomas (46′ Tokic), R. Kovac - Srna (64′ J. Leko), Tudor (46′ Modric), N. Kovac (23′ Vranjes), Babic - Kranjcar - Prso (55′ Olic), Klasnic

Iran: Mirzapour - Kaebi, Golmohammadi, Rezaei, Nosrati - Nekounam (85′ Shojaei), Taymoorian, Karimi (46′ Madanchi), Zandi (46′ Bakhtiyarizadeh) - Hashemian (60′ Borhani), Daei (77′ Kazemian)

Bookings: None

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2	Sepahan Esfahan **	58	+15
3	Saba Battery Tehran	52	+4
4	Abu Moslem Khorasan	50	0
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6	Zob Ahan Esfahan	48	+7
7	Bargh Shiraz	47	-4
8	Esteghlal Ahvaz	46	+10
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14	Fajr Sepasi Shiraz	42	-4
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97th minute penalty salvages draw for Croatia against Iran

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