© EuroFootball.com
The Portuguese national team on Saturday defeated the Iran team with a score of 2-0 and secured their place in the next stage. Portuguese coach Felipe Scolari was pleased with the team's success and described this match as the best the team has played in recent times.
"This was the team's best performance in the last eight matches. We secured our place in the next stage, so before the last match, we can focus on other important things: we will see who has problems with yellow cards, some players will be able to rest."
"The Iran team left a good impression on me. The team has many good players, and they are also strong psychologically. We respect the Iranian players, as they truly deserve respect."
The injured player during the match, Luís Figo, also celebrated the team's success: "I am pleased with the victory, now we are preparing for the next match against famous opponents. We controlled the game, but we only scored in the second half. We are happy to have achieved victory, but we must continue to focus, as the next match against Mexico will be really tough."
Meanwhile, Iran coach Branko Ivanković praised his team and opponents: "Some may have been surprised not to see Ali Daei in the starting lineup. He didn't play because I wanted to field players who play fast. My team played very well, but Portugal is a very strong team, so we couldn't score."
"We played very well in the first ten minutes, but that's not enough to win. Portugal, of course, was the stronger team and we have to accept the defeat. Our key players played with injuries not fully healed, so they played worse than they could." - comforted Iran's striker Vahid Hashemian.
