IRAN-ANGOLA: Players' Quotes

FIFAWORLDCUP - Ze Kalanga (ANG), Budweiser Man of the Match
I'm delighted with the award, but the result was not the one we wanted. It was very hot out there and we were exhausted. It was hard for us to get in the game at first because our other two matches kicked off later. Although we gave it our all it just wasn’t enough, but I’m sure things will be different in four years' time.
Mehdi MAHDAVIKIA (IRN)
Even though we were out before the game started, we really wanted to win today. There's no question we were the better side. We also created better chances and it's a real shame we didn't capitalise on them. We're out of the World Cup with just a single point to our name, which is very disappointing.

Rahman REZAEI (IRN)
We outclassed Angola today and we had several excellent chances that we just couldn't take. Overall, though, we just weren't strong enough. The World Cup was a terrific experience for our young players, and now we have time to prepare and do it all over again in four years.

Hossein KAABI (IRN)
I don't think we were up to it to be frank. I had a few injury niggles and neither myself nor the team were able to play our best football. Let’s see what the future brings for us.

LOKO (ANG)
We lacked experience and we were nowhere near adventurous enough to take the opportunity we had to reach the last 16.

FLAVIO (ANG)
I'm ecstatic at being the first Angolan to score in a World Cup finals match. I had a few problems at the start of the tournament because I wasn't being selected. Thanks to the team psychologist and my family, though, I picked myself up and achieved something historic. We put a lot of effort in but we lacked the organisation we needed to qualify.

JOAO RICARDO (ANG)
We were the lowest-ranked of all the finalists, and our group contained some of the best teams in the world. We don't have a superstar in our ranks and our players are in some of Europe's lower leagues. When you consider all that, I think we did exceptionally well in our first World Cup. All that was missing was a little more experience.

MENDONCA (ANG)
We're going back to Angola tomorrow and we'll be celebrating until Friday!