Iran's World Cup hopes already look remote

AFP - Iran woke up to the harsh reality that their World Cup dream was very likely over after a moment of madness dashed their chance of points against Mexico.

Coach Branko Ivankovic was livid after defender Rahman Rezaei, whose leaping header had set up Iran's equaliser, allowed himself to be robbed on the edge of the penalty box for Mexico to go 2-1 up.

Iran are now third in Group D and have little chance of making the knock-out stages for the first time with games to come against Angola and mighty Portugal.

"We had a chance to do something today, we played very well especially in the first half and maybe we could have scored more than one goal," Ivankovic said.

"We lost a goal through a terrible mistake in the defensive line, and of course after that it was much harder."

Ivankovic had gone to great lengths for the match, hiring a former coach from the Mexican league to prepare detailed dossiers on each player.

But the preparations came to nothing as Mexico regained the lead, then made it 3-1 within three second-half minutes as the Iranian defence crumbled.

"Our problem wasn't that we were surprised, it was the players not playing," Ivankovic said.

"Mexico created maybe one opportunity and they were of course dangerous from free kicks. But our players have to decide sometimes what to do on the pitch."

Ivankovic was also left to curse the rigours of the German season with his key contingent of Bundesliga players riven by injury.

Mehdi Mahdavikia and Vahid Hashemian were both carrying knocks, while Iran's top player Ali Karimi had to be subbed off and Ferydoon Zandi did not even make the bench.

"We had some problems in the last two or three months. Karimi was playing his second game in three months, Hashemian was out injured for two months and Mahdavikia couldn't practice for the last 10 days," said the coach.

The result will renew fierce criticism in the Iranian media of Ivankovic, who has already indicated he may not renew his contract after the World Cup.

It also means more pain for Iran's long-suffering fans, who have seen their team triumph just once at the World Cup.

But it at least focused attention back on the football pitch. As the match unfolded just yards from where Hitler staged his infamous rallies, 1,200 Jewish activists marched against the Iranian president's comment that the Holocaust was a "myth".

Ivankovic repeated his denial that the controversy had affected his team.

"Nobody in our team discussed politics, we only discussed our opponents and football," he said.