Mexico scored twice in three second-half minutes to beat Iran 3-1 on Sunday and give a massive boost to their bid to go past the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time.
The world number four and Group D seeds were held at 1-1 for 40 minutes by a battling Iran before Omar Bravo broke the deadlock with his second of the match.
Second-half substitute Zinha pounced on a mistake by defender Rahman Rezaei before sliding the ball to Bravo, who sided-footed it into the bottom left corner on 76 minutes.
Moments later Zinha rose unmarked to head a Mario Mendez cross past despairing Iran ‘keeper Ebrahim Mirzapour, sparking delirium among the large contingent of Mexican supporters.
It was a vital victory for Mexico — who have never bettered their two quarterfinal appearances on home soil — with games against Portugal and Angola to come.
The two teams had been delicately poised at 1-1 after an intriguing first half.
Mexico went 1-0 up after 28 minutes, Guillermo Franco rising to head a free-kick towards the back post where Bravo flicked in from close range.
But Iran hit back eight minutes later when Mexico goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez could only parry a close-range header to the feet of defender Yahya Golmohammadi, who prodded it into the roof of the net.
Vahid Hashemian had earlier missed a golden opportunity to open the scoring for Iran when, with the goal begging, he failed to connect with a perfect ball across the box.
Seconds later, Hashemian had a header clawed off the line by Sanchez.
At the other end, captain Rafael Marquez and Guillermo Franco also went close for Mexico.
Both sides rang the changes in the second half, with Mexico hauling off strikers Jared Borgetti and Franco and replacing them with Jose Fonseca and Zinha.
Bayern Munich man Ali Karimi was taken off by Iran after an unusually subdued 55 minutes.
It was Zinha who made the difference, setting up Bravo’s second and scoring himself. But he could not provide a third for Bravo, who was on course for a Mexican hat-trick.
Meanwhile, controversy continued to haunt Iran as more than 1 000 protesters gathered in Nuremberg, a former Nazi heartland, to demonstrate against Iran’s president, who has described the Holocaust as a ”myth”. — AFP
