First draw at the World Cup

Nigeria and Iran could be separated as the team played out the first draw at the final tournament. Statistically, Iran's team has one of the best defence at the World Cup and despite having a better ball possession, Nigeria could not score.

Match statistics speak for themselves. Nigeria had a whopping 70 percent ball possession more corner kick and more shots on target. However, their dominance was futile. Iran defended well and Haghighi seald the goal.

Figures do not look good for Nigeria. The African nations has not obtained a single victory in the last nine World Cup appearances. It is the longest active winless streak of any nation. “Respect to Iran. They had their game plan to sit back and defend and they did well,” said Stephen Kenshi, Nigeria's coach.

On the other side, Iran has a new face after the team was picked up by former Manchester United coach, Carlos Queiroz. “We played against a great team and it was necessary to play a realistic game. We fought for every ball, every space and played 90 minutes with one thing in our mind. My players need to be congratulated,” said Iran's coach.

For the next days, Iran will prepare for probably one of the toughest missions this team ever had, to play Argentina. On June 21 at Estadio Mineirao at Belo Horizonte, Iran will face Messi's Argentina.