Ronaldo misses penalty, Portugal draws 1-1 with Iran

Ronaldo — who had scored all four Portugal goals in its first two games of Group B play — was denied on his penalty by Beiranvand's dive toward the right post in the second half.

"We were on top of the game until the penalty, and we didn't make it. It wasn't perfect, but that's football," Santos said. "We did what was expected and now we have to settle down and think about Uruguay."Karim Ansarifard scored a late penalty for Iran, which need to win to advance, but couldn't break through a second time despite a furious charge in the waning minutes. The Mordovia arena momentarily vibrated from the sound of Iran fans' roars when Mehdi Taremi hit the side of the net from 6 yards out.

The penalty against Portugal was awarded after a video review showed a handball in the area. But although Iran coach Carolos Queiroz benefited from that review, he railed against the system for the second day in a row. In particular, he cited a decision to give Ronaldo a yellow card after his elbow struck Iran defender Morteza Pouraliganji in the face in the second half.

"Elbow is a red card in the rules," Queiroz asserted in English, adding that there are no written exceptions for players named Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. "The decisions, they must be clear for everybody, for the people. Everybody agrees that VAR is not going well. That's the reality. There are a lot of complaints."Spain won Group B after its 2-2 draw with Morocco. Both Spain and Portugal had a goal difference of plus-1, but Spain scored six goals in its three group matches while Portugal had five.

Spain will next face host Russia on Sunday in Moscow.

AP