IR Iran faced Portugal in their last group fixture knowing that they were likely to need the full three points to qualify from Group B, since Spain were favourites against already-eliminated Morocco.

Cristiano Ronaldo seemed likely to be Portugal’s most dangerous player, given his prior haul of four goals at the tournament. Team Melli managed to marshal him well, and the famous CR7 was denied any goalscoring opportunities. But suddenly an unstoppable shot from Ricardo Quaresma put Portugal in front in the final moments of the first half.

A penalty for Portugal was set to double the lead in the second half. But Ali Beiranvand managed to save Ronaldo’s spot kick. “I am proud to have prevented him from scoring. He is one of the best players of all time,” the goalkeeper commented.

“That penalty brought us back into the game, and we created some scoring opportunities,” he added. But the equaliser for Iran, also via the penalty spot, came very late on, and left little time for Carlos Queiroz’s men to chase a winner. With the draw, Iran fell short in the qualification race, ending only a point behind Portugal and Spain.

Iran had put in another good performance, however. In the words of forward Karim Ansarifard, they had competed against the best teams of the world shoulder to shoulder.

In the end, it came down to a single goal – one more goal against Portugal would have seen them qualify. In fact, they would have topped Group B ahead of Spain and Portugal. “We are here to keep this dream alive as long as we can.” This is what Carlos Queiroz repeated many times during his interviews in Russia. And his team kept the dream alive until the very last moment.​