According to an Iran Press report, quoting from the Iranian Football Federation website, the Leader of the Islamic revolution sent a message to the Iranian national football team on Wednesday night, after an inspiring performance by the Iranian team, who kept a clean sheet until well into the second half, when a shot hit the leg of Spain's center forward, Diego Manuel Costa, and ended up in the back of the Iranian net . This was the only goal of a hard-fought match which ended with a not-so-convincing 1 - 0 Spanish win.
The supportive message from the Leader of the Islamic revolution simply said: "You did an excellent job! May god give you strength".
Mehdi Taaj , the head of the Football Federation, congratulated the Iranian national football team and wished them success in the World Cup.