FIFA World Cup : Portugal enter pre-quarters despite being held by Iran
Saransk (Russia), June 26 : Iran held Portugal 1-1 in their final Group B match here on Monday but couldn't stop the reigning European champions from entering the FIFA World Cup pre-quarterfinals.
Ricardo Quaresma gave Portugal the lead in the 45th minute but Iran found the equaliser through a penalty conversion from Karim Ansarifard in the 90+3 minute.
Following the draw at the Mordovia Arena, Iran are third on the table with four points and will now exit alongside Morocco (one point) from Group B. Portugal are second with five points - same as Spain but the latter side is ahead on the basis of scoring more goals during the group stage matches.
With the day's other game of the group, between Spain and Morocco being played at the same time, the Portugal vs Iran match had a lot of significance in terms of qualifying for the second round and the top position cushion.
Portugal, who started the match with four points - one more than the Asian outfit - had the advantage in case of a draw. And having witnessed the pragmatic style of Fernando Santos' side, the Europeans, though were expected to dominate, gave a signal of first trying to secure the qualification and then going after the top position, if chances came.
As a result, the first half between Portugal and Iran saw a slow game, with not many chances created. However, Iran, bidding to reach the World Cup knockouts for the first time, had a weird start.
They could have conceded the lead in the 10th minute of the match as Joao Mario found himself in front of an open goal thanks to a lack of communication inside the box but he shot over the cross-bar.
Goalkeeper Ali Beiranvand called to clear a cross but defender Saeid Ezatolahi decided to cut it out.
He got no distance on the clearance and then the ball dropped near Mario on the edge of the box but the latter came out with a poor shot.
Beiranvand then went through a period of lapse of concentration as he couple of times fumbled the ball but his defenders were alert.
Also Portugal didn't press as much as they should have and didn't made the most of the faults Iran made.
Portugal tried to feed their target man Ronaldo but couple of his free-kicks and headers were not on target and Portugal's slow passing of the ball didn't help their cause.
It did clearly help Iran as they tried to do some clever moves through Sardar Azmoun and Alireza Jahanbakhsh.
A Jahanbakhsh free-kick was headed towards goal by Ezatolahi, but the effort was straight down the throat of Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio in the 34th minute.
Portugal, however, broke the deadlock in the 45th minute when Quaresma played a quick one-two with full-back Cedric Soares, sprinted to the edge of the box before curling a gorgeous outside-of-the-foot finish into the far top corner.
Six minutes into the second half, Portugal could have added a cushion goal after being awarded a penalty after Video Assistant Referee (VAR) found Ezatolahi to have fouled Ronaldo.
But Beiranvand came up with the heroics as he dived to the left to block Ronaldo's penalty to keep Iran alive in the contest and in the World Cup.
Later, Azmoun and Jahanbakhsh kept threatening Portugal goal. Azmound also had couple of penalty shouts rejected until he found one in the third minute of the injury time.
A header from him saw fell on the left hand of Cedric Soares, leading to a penalty from which Iran levelled 1-1. Ansarifard fired to the roof of the net on the right, giving no chance to Patricio.
In the dying moments, Iranian attacking midfielder Vahid Amiri missed a golden chance to score a stunning winner as a long overhead ball saw him through the Portuguese defence but his left-footed flick hit the side-netting, ending their chances in the match.
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Kejriwal responds to EC, says water received from Haryana 'extremely poisonous' for human health
New Delhi (PTI): AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday responded to the Election Commission notice over his claim the Haryana government was "mixing poison" in Yamuna, and said raw water received from the BJP-ruled state in the recent past has been "highly contaminated and extremely poisonous" for human health.
In the 14-page reply to the Election Commission, the former Delhi chief minister said if such "toxic water" is allowed to be consumed by human population it would lead to grave health hazard and fatality.
Kejriwal said he only wanted to highlight the "urgent public health crisis" due to the quality of drinking water in the city, and he violated no law or Model Code of Conduct, hence the issue should be closed.
He said the "alleged statements" attributed to him were made as it was his public duty to red flag the "severe toxicity and contamination" of raw water received from the BJP-ruled state.
Following a complaint filed by the BJP over the matter, the Election Commission issued the notice to Kejriwal on Tuesday, giving him time till Wednesday 8 pm to furnish his reply.
Kejriwal also said the ammonia level in raw water received from Haryana was so "extreme" that water treatment plants in Delhi are unable to process and bring it down to safe and permissible limits for human consumption.
Following their party chief's response, the AAP issued a statement, saying, "It is an undisputed fact that there is 7 ppm ammonia in Yamuna water, A Delhi Jal Board CEO letter admits toxicity is 700 percent higher than the permissible limit."
In his response to the EC, Kejriwal also alleged that Haryana's "failure" in controlling pollution in Yamuna has resulted in an "unprecedented public health crisis" in Delhi. He alleged "indiscriminate" discharge of industrial waste in the river by the state.
The AAP supremo said Haryana is an upper-riparian state and Delhi, ruled by his party, has no role to play in the high level of toxic water being made available to the city.
"Due to such high level of toxic content in the raw water supplied by Haryana, the water treatment plants in Delhi are operating below capacity and there is a shortage of treated water in Delhi," he claimed.
Saying that access to clean water is a basic human right, the AAP chief asserted that raising this critical issue cannot be considered an offence.
"The said statement by no stretch of the imagination can be termed inciting enmity between different groups or prejudicial to national integration," he said.
On the contrary, the substance and purpose of these statements are rooted solely in the public interest, aimed at highlighting a legitimate civic concern that requires urgent institutional intervention, he asserted.
He requested the EC to intervene in the matter and issue appropriate directions to Haryana so safe water is made available to the people of Delhi.
