Fury after Ronaldo escapes red card
Iran coach Carlos Queiroz was so furious with the World Cup’s video assistant referee system that he turned his post-match news conference following the 1-1 draw with Portugal yesterday into a lengthy rant against Fifa’s implementation of the technology.
Queiroz was angered that Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo was not issued a red card when his elbow struck Iran defender Morteza Pouraliganji in the face. Ronaldo had aggressively initiated contact from behind on the play.
During a 20-minute rant Queiroz, who is Portuguese, says in English: ‘‘I’m not talking about the ref, talking about one system.
‘‘Thousands of dollars, five guys sitting upstairs and they don’t see an elbow? Give me a break.’’
The Iranians already felt VAR had robbed them when a goal was overturned by the new review process for offside in a 1-0 loss to Spain.
The day before the Group B finale between Iran and Portugal, Queiroz said he supported the video review for obvious mistakes. But he made it clear he was against its overuse in this tournament to address debatable judgment calls.
Ronaldo’s earlier missed penalty cost Portugal first place in Group B.
It could have been worse if not for Ricardo Quaresma, who started for the first time in the tournament and scored his maiden World Cup goal with a shot that had about as much flair as any in the tournament.
Portugal will next face Uruguay, who beat Russia 3-0, in the round of 16 in Sochi on Sunday.
‘‘The conclusion and the most important thing is we’re going to continue playing,’’ Portugal coach Fernando Santos said. ‘‘We had a strong opponent.’’
Quaresma became the only player other than Ronaldo to score for the Portuguese in three games in Russia.
The 34-year-old midfielder also became Portugal’s oldest scorer in World Cup play by hitting a curling shot from the edge of the penalty area that went beyond the reach of diving Iran goalkeeper Ali Beiranvand.
Karim Ansarifard scored a late penalty for Iran, who needed to win to advance but couldn’t break through a second time despite a furious charge in the waning minutes.
Spain won Group B after their 2-2 draw with Morocco. Both Spain and Portugal had a goal difference of plus one, but Spain scored six goals in their three group matches while Portugal had five.
The 2010 champions will next face hosts Russia in Moscow on Monday.
It took a video review of an injurytime equaliser to give Spain first place .
Spain substitute Iago Aspas scored the late goal. His clever deflection off a cross from Dani Carvajal was initially disallowed for offside, but the video assistant referee overruled the call.
‘‘Until the last minute, we weren’t sure who was going to finish first and second,’’ Spain coach Fernando Hierro said.
‘‘And I have to say we were lucky to finish first.’’
Egypt goalkeeper Essam El Hadary, 45, became the oldest player to take the field for a World Cup game and saved a penalty but couldn’t stop Saudi Arabia from winning 2-1. Both group A teams had already been eliminated.