Iranian head coach, Carlos Queiroz has said that his team deserved better result in their World Cup Group B encounter with Spain, as they slipped to a 1-0 loss in Kazan. Iran, who were solid in defense, only conceded following a fortuitous goal scored by Diego Costa in the 54th minute. Iran midfielder Saeid Ezatolahi Afagh thought he had equalized when he drilled into the Spanish goal following a set-piece, but his goal was ruled out for offside after the referee consulted the video assistant referee system.
“First of all I would like to congratulate my players for the wonderful fighting spirit against a candidate to win the World Cup… We deserved a better result. There is no doubt that Spain played wonderful stylish football, it is what they do, but I think we deserved more, we deserved much better during the game,” Queiroz told reporters at the post-match press conference. Iran will face Portugal in their third and final game in the group stage on Monday.