Live Blog: Iran and Portugal in Saransk

8:37 p.m. (36 minutes into the game) Iran and Portugal are level; neither has scored a goal. Now the free kick after a foul by the Portuguese team... ends in nothing because the Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Patricio catches the ball.

I've never heard of Saransk; per Wikipedia it is the "capital city of the Republic of Mordovia, Russia, [. . .] located in the Volga basin at the confluence of the Saranka and Insar Rivers, about 630 kilometers (390 mi) east of Moscow."

8:39 p.m. (38 minutes into the game) Cristiano Ronaldo is noblemindedly giving away the ball to a teammate as he nears the Iranian goal. I'm touched, impressed, and not a little surprised.

8:41 p.m. (40 minutes into the game) A Portuguese player tackles an Iranian player by grasping both sides of his back from behind as if he were a 4th-grader about to play leapfrog in the classroom. While it looks highly unorthodox to me, the referee doesn't care.

8:44 p.m. (43 minutes into the game) Although I am hardly an expert on the Portuguese team, the levels of cooperation and cohesion here are rather creeping me out. It's like seeing a rather knavish lad piously sitting in front of his homework.

8:46 p.m. (45 minutes into the game) Quaresma, of the Portuguese team, has scored 1-0.

8:49 p.m. Halftime!

9:19 p.m. (60 minutes into the game) Eloquent gesturing, expressive to me of 'What the hell was that?', of the Portuguese coach toward the playing field. The game is still tense; Portugal doesn't seem to have strengthened its lead enough.

9:23 p.m. (63 minutes into the game) A Portuguese player throws in the ball from the side of the field, in front of the politely interested faces of Iranian fans.

9:25 p.m. (65 minutes into the game) Another strong, but inaccurate, shot on the Iranian goal from a fairly large distance by Cristiano Ronaldo.

9:29 p.m. (69 minutes into the game) Quaresma leaves the field, perhaps (I imagine) to prevent his getting a second yellow card in addition to his first. From past World Cups I remember him as being not averse to fouling now and then.

9:32 p.m. (72 minutes into the game) An Iranian player has just fired a good shot a foot or two to the side of the Portuguese goal.

9:35 p.m. (75 minutes into the game) The Iranian coach demanded a video replay of a supposed foul that didn't look too foul-y. The referee jogged over to reprimand the coach.

9:42 p.m. (82 minutes into the game) After replaying one or two different video recordings again, and again, (ad nauseam) on the review device, to determine the truth of events, the referee thrusts a yellow card on Cristiano Ronaldo. He had lashed out his arm toward an Iranian player behind him. It looked impatient, not vicious, and I think he aimed at the chest and not the face. So he didn't get a red card.

9:45 p.m. (85 minutes into the game) Morocco leads Spain 2-1. Awkward.

9:50 p.m. (90+ minutes into the game) The referee investigates if there was a handball. 6 minutes of extra play time. To be ungrateful, I think I've already had enough joy.

9:52 p.m. (90+ 2 minutes into the game) It was, it seems, a handball. 11-metre penalty for Iran. No pressure. Iran equalizes 1-1.

9:54 p.m. (90+ 4 minutes into the game) Iran had another good chance at a goal. Portugal is playing for time, apparently, and switching in a player.

9:55 p.m. (90+ 5 minutes into the game) 2-2 for Spain and Morocco after Spain's goal is dramatically revealed not to be offside.

9:58 p.m. The end of the game. The Iranian players are, partly, exhausted and depressed. The Portuguese players don't look happy. But the two coaches have embraced in a brotherly gesture.