Lionel Messi’s magical left-footed strike got Argentina out of the rut against a combative Iran while veteran German striker Miroslav Klose walked into the World Cup ‘Hall of Fame’ with record-equalling 15th goal bringing him at par with Ronaldo.

In third and final match yesterday, Nigeria posted their first win in World Cup in 16 years getting better of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-0.

Forward Odemwingie scored for the Super Eagles as they remained in the hunt for a place in the knock-out stages while Bosnia and Herzegovina are already out of the championship.

It was Messi whose piece of individual brilliance in the dying moments ensured a 1-0 win and big step towards qualifying for the knock-out stage for Argentina.

For Klose, who was benched in Germany’s 4-0 rout of Portugal, his opportunistic tap brought about the equaliser as the Bavarian army played out an entertaining 2-2 draw against a spirited Ghana side.

All four goals came in the second half with Mario Goetze and Klose scoring for Germany as Andre Ayew and Asamoah Gyan scored for the ‘Black Stars’

In the Argentina vs Iran match, one saw some dogged defending on the part of the Iranians who nearly snatched a point with their spirited display before Messi’s curling in—step left—footer beat custodian Alireza Haghighi, who otherwise had a splendid match.

Iran predictably employed the ultra—defensive tactic by keeping at least seven players in their own defensive third which frustrated the Argentine forwards Gonazalo Higuain and Sergio Aguero even though the South American side enjoyed 75 per cent of the ball possession.

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