MOSCOW — Oh no, Iran fans, what did you just do?
Hours before perhaps the biggest game in Iran’s World Cup history, a group of its supporters attempted to give the team an edge by camping outside the hotel of Monday’s opponent Portugal.
Once set up there and with midnight long since passed, the fans pulled out vuvuzelas, bells, whistles and clappers, and began to roar and chant pro-Iran songs.
Not a bad idea, you might think. They were even rewarded by proof that the racket they kicked out outside the Hotel Mercure in Saransk had been heard and noticed, when none other than Cristiano Ronaldo appeared at the window.
Ronaldo appeared to be in good humor, and merely spent a few seconds pointing to the fans and jokingly asking them to stop, before gesturing that he was trying to sleep. Naturally, all that did was encourage the Iranian visitors to cheer even louder.
If Iran beats Portugal it would not only be the biggest upset in the tournament, but would also put the the team into the round of 16, an incredible achievement given that it was placed in a brutal group that includes Portugal and Spain.
However, as past experience has showed, trying to rile Ronaldo has a habit of backfiring. When Paris St. Germain tried the same tactic before a Champions League game on Mar. 6, Ronaldo responded by putting in a superb performance, scoring the critical goal that put the two-legged round of 16 clash ...er, to bed.
The 33-year-old is never more dangerous than when he has been tweaked, and even through the blurred windows of his hotel window on Sunday night you could sense the competitive fires starting to be lit.
Ronaldo knows this may be his last chance at World Cup glory, despite rumors that he is also targeting the 2022 even in Qatar, and early evidence shows he is a man on a mission. Four goals from two games so far, plus a pair of Man of the Match awards, and things are going just fine for the athlete universally regarded as one of the two best players in the world.
As for Iran, its efforts at this World Cup have been mightily impressive. A 1-0 win over Morocco in the opening game was hard-earned, before "Team Melli" put up a strong fight in a narrow loss 2010 champion Spain. The squad has a far lower budget than most World Cup teams and was further hindered when Nike refused to supply their cleats for the tournament, citing United States government sanctions.
“We didn’t come here to be nice losers,” head coach Carlos Queiroz said, and it seems the fans took him literally.
