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The second victory in a row in the tournament was achieved by the Portuguese national team, who secured their place in the next stage by defeating Iran 2-0 in the second round of Group D matches. Both goals were scored by the winners in the last half-hour of the match.
Portugal 2 - 0 Iran 63' [1 - 0] Deco 79' [2 - 0] Cristiano Ronaldo (pen.)
Portugal: Ricardo, Miguel, F.Meira, R.Carvalho, N.Valente, Costinha, Maniche (67' Petit), L.Figo (88' Simao), Deco (80' Tiago), C.Ronaldo, P.Pauleta.
Iran: E.Mirzapour, H.Kaebi, R.Rezaei, Y.Golmohammadi (88' S.Bakhtiarizadeh), J.Nekounam, M.Nosrati, M.Mahdavikia, A.Teymourian, M.Madanchi (67' R.P.Khatibi), Ali Karimi (65' F.Zandi), V.Hashemian.
From the beginning of the match, the Portuguese controlled the ball longer, and they created the first danger in front of Iran's goal after just over ten minutes - Deco received the ball in the penalty area and struck it strongly and accurately towards the goal, but the goalkeeper successfully saved Deco's shot. A few minutes later, a strong long-range shot from Maniche followed, but the ball flew over the goal.
After about half an hour, Iran created a dangerous attack, with Andranik Teymourian hitting the post. However, a slightly delayed referee ruled the player offside.
Portugal continued to seek a goal, but breaking through Iran's defense was still elusive - after a corner taken by Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo dangerously headed towards goal, but Iran defender Hossein Kaabi cleared the ball off the goal line.
A few minutes later, Hossein Kaabi was in the center of events again - while fighting for the ball, the defender accidentally hit Luis Figo in the face. The referee did not see the foul, and Hossein Kaabi escaped without a yellow card.
At the end of the first half, Miguel threatened the opponent's goal, with his shot from the edge of the penalty area hitting the goalkeeper and bouncing next to the post. The first half ended goalless.
After about twenty minutes in the second half, Portugal finally broke through and took the lead - Figo passed the ball to Deco in the middle of the field, and Deco, with an excellent shot from the edge of the penalty area, sent it into the net.
Iran did not want to give up easily and created several dangerous attacks, one of which involved a powerful header by Mehdi Mahdavikia, but his shot was well saved by the Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo.
Portugal solidified their lead in the 79th minute, when Figo was brought down in the penalty area and the referee awarded a penalty kick. Cristiano Ronaldo successfully converted it, sending the ball into the right corner of the goal.
P.Pauleta could have "finished off" the opponents completely, but in the final minute of the match, he missed a good opportunity. Therefore, the match ended 2-0, with Portugal securing their place in the next stage, while Iran no longer has any chances of advancing.
