Nigeria's attacking threat fell flat as they were held to the first goalless draw of the 2014 World Cup in their Group F game with Iran in Curitiba.
Stephen Keshi's men started with top Barclays Premier League players including John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses on the pitch but produced a performance riddled with errors and few clear-cut chances.
The Iranians, starting their fourth World Cup as one of the least fancied of all the finalists, arguably had the best chance when Reza Ghoochannejhad brought a fine save out of Nigerian keeper Vincent Enyeama in the 33rd minute. Until that point the Africans had dominated possession but were hampered by a woeful final ball which kept their clear-cut chances to a minimum.
Moses had Nigeria's first chance in the third minute when he hit a poor shot at inexperienced Iranian keeper Reza Haghighi.
Haghighi looked uncomfortable when pressured by the Nigerian front men and was lucky to escape in the seventh minute after flapping at a corner.
The ball dropped to Kenneth Omeruo who poked the ball in the net but the referee had already blown for a foul on the keeper by Mikel. Emmanuel Emenike was having some success down the Nigerian left with Iranian right-back Pejhman Montazeri struggling to contain the speed of the Fenerbahce striker.
Ahmed Musa tried to cut a clever free-kick inside Haghighi's left-hand post from a long-range free kick in the 31st minute but the Nigerians' lack of cutting edge began to instill the Iranians with confidence. And their big chance came in the 33rd minute when Ghoochannejhad met an Ashkan Dejagah corner with a header which brought an excellent reflect save out of Enyeama.
Iran continued to grow in confidence early in the second half when Ghoochannejhad screwed a long-range shot wide of target.
But it had developed into a largely dismal affair with neither side looking capable of challenging Group F rivals Argentina or Bosnia.
Former Newcastle striker Shola Ameobi replaced Moses after 52 minutes and immediately came close to connecting with a cross from the left by Aziz.
And after Ogenyi Onazi drilled a low shot straight at Haghighi, the Nigerians came close to grabbing a scarcely deserved victory in the final minute. Ameobi met a Juwon Oshaniwa cross with an effort which was superbly intercepted by Mehrdad Poolani, then the same player blocked an Ameobi header before the final whistle was greeted by a chorus of boos.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article