Two nations chasing World Cup glory will do battle today in a match between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iran. The 2014 World Cup group-stage match scheduled for 12 p.m. ET will be held at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador and can be live streamed here free. A free Spanish language stream of the match can be found here. Free radio coverage here. Additional TV coverage can be found on ESPN2 and UniMas.
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Iran's World Cup dreams are still alive entering today's match. Defensive tactics and organization have been the keys to success, and midfielder Ashkan Dejagah is not afraid to admit that. "We don't have players like [Lionel] Messi, [Sergio] Aguero and [Angel] Di Maria, so we need to focus on making ourselves as well-organized as possible," he said (via FIFA). "The shape of the team, making sure we're tough to get through defensively, is something that has been very important for the coach in the build-up to this tournament."
"He's spent a lot of time on the training field making sure that we're compact and ready to take on the best teams in the world," he added. "Neither Nigeria nor Argentina had many chances against us, and realistically, that's the only way we can go about things. If we played a really open game against players like Messi, they would have killed us."
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Tactical Preview
Player to Watch: The man pulling the strings in the midfield and responsible for unlocking Iran's stubborn defense is none other than Miralem Pjanic. The 24-year-old is completing 89.7 percent of his passes this tournament and is averaging five key passes per match.
Bosnia-Herzegovina's Projected Lineup (4-2-3-1): Begovic; Kolasinac, Spahic, Sunjic, Mujdza; Besic, Pjanic; Lulic, Misimovic, Hajrovic; Dzeko
Iran's Projected Lineup (4-2-3-1): Haghighi; Pooladi, Sadeghi, Hosseini, Montazeri; Teymourian, Nekounam; Dejagah, Hajsafi, Heydari; Ghoochannejhad
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (via WhoScored).
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