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Spain got their first win of the tournament with a narrow 1-0 win over Iran in the World Cup Group B encounter between the two sides at the Kazan Arena last night.
Fernando Hierro's men were made to work their socks off by a determined Iranian side who fought tooth and nail to keep their World Cup hopes alive.
Carlos Queiroz's side resorted to sitting deep in their own half and not giving an inch to the Spanish players to operate effectively in the first 45 minutes.
However Spain finally found a way through in the 54th minute when Andres Iniesta's pass invited Diego Costa to find the back of the net for his 3rd goal of the tournament.
Iran almost crawled their way back into the game when Saeid Ezatolahi scored from a set-piece six minutes late, but the goal was retrospectively ruled out for offside after the intervention of VAR, after replays suggested that the midfielder had just strayed offside in the build-up to the goal.
The result now means that Spain and Portugal are currently tied at 4 points each while Iran are in close pursuit of the European heavyweights with 3 points from their 2 games so far. Qualification from Group B could go down to the wire and without further delay, let's take a closer look at three factors that helped Spain get over the line against Iran:
#1 VAR
The VAR and intervention of technology continues to be the main talking point of the tournament's group stages so far and yesterday was no different.
Referee Andres Cunha, who was previously involved in the penalty incident during the game between France and Australia, was yet again involved in another retrospective decision that ruled out Iran's equalizer on the night.
Saeid Ezatolahi was involved in a scramble in front of goal before he tucked the ball past David De Gea following a well worked free-kick routine from 30 yards out to provide what looked like Iran's lifeline.
However, the celebrations were cut-short when the referee confirmed that VAR will intervene, and soon the decision was made to rule the goal out for offside.
VAR had yet again broken the hearts of a nation and Iran became the first side to be denied a goal through its intervention in a World Cup game.
#2 Width on the flanks
Fernando Hierro made two changes from the team that drew 3-3 against Portugal at Sochi last week as Lucas Vazquez replaced Koke and Dani Carvajal returned to fitness to retain his spot in the line-up on the night.
The introduction of these wide players on the right-hand side provided Spain with a lot of width while going forward and La Furia Roja made full use of the flanks to try and break down a resolute Iranian side.
Vazquez in particular made a lot of runs that stretched an otherwise resolute Iran defence to provide ample space for Spain's midfield maestros to make daring runs and contribute to the attack whenever required.
Carvajal backing him up with the right mix of offense and retreat meant that Vazquez had a free role to run riot on the flanks, causing a number of problems for the Iranians.
#3 The matador in Diego Costa
Four years ago in Brazil, when defending world and European champions Spain were unceremoniously knocked off their perch, there was a lot of criticism rallied at Vicente Del Bosque for entrusting Diego Costa with the mantle to grab the goals for the side.
According to the naysayers, the Brazilian-born striker was not suited to La Furia Roja's style of play and that his hot-headed approach would only do more harm than good to the overall team's philosophy.
Fast forward to Russia 2018 and Costa is finally answering his critics at the international stage in sumptuous fashion.
If the two well taken goals against Portugal in their opening game was an indication, then his precise finish to find the winner against Iran last night has well and truly put the argument to bed.
Costa is rightfully the matador who holds the mantle for Spain as they look to avenge the horrors of their last World Cup campaign, and he seemingly has no intention of backing off.
