Iran's coach Branko Ivankovic pledged that there will be no more pleasant surprises for Team Melli's remaining opponents in Group D of the World Cup 2006 Finals.

The Croatian coach, who lead Croatia to the third place of the 1998 World Cup, defended his team's tactics and style of play, blaming a weak moment which enabled Mexico to take the lead in the match.

"We played very well in the first half and we could have solved a lot of problems.

The Iranian goalkeeper, Ebrahim Mirzapour, gifted Mexico a goal, as he slipped and failed to fully stretch. "We gave one excellent gift to Mexico and they used it 100 percent," Ivankovic said in the press conference after the end of the match in Nuremberg.

"If you get such a chance you use it, especially with such high quality players like Mexico. It is very difficult to recover from that... We will try not to make it again against Portugal."

"Now we concentrate on Portugal who are of course the favourites... But this is football and you never know what can happen. They have good players but anything can happen at the World Cup," Iran's coach added.

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