Striker Omar Bravo scored twice as Mexico beat Iran 3-1 in their World Cup Group D opener on Sunday.

The 26-year-old put Mexico ahead in the 28th minute after slotting in a pass from Guillermo Franco. He scored the second in the 76th minute to give the Mexicans a 2-1 lead after the matched had been deadlocked at 1-1.

Iran gave Mexico some nervous moments soon after the kickoff. Striker Vahid Hashemian could have given the Asian side the lead.

Hashemian first missed when trying to back-heel a cross into the net, then seconds later forced a flying save from Oswaldo Sanchez with a well-directed header.

The Mexicans, with a captain in Barcelona player Rafael Maquez at the back, settled quickly and found the net first through Bravo.

But defender Yahya Golmohammadi produced an almost immediate reply for the Iranians, prodding high into the roof of the net after Oswaldo Sanchez flapped at a corner and the ball fell at the defender's feet in the six-meter box.

Iran, who recorded only one win in their two previous World Cup finals, displayed an agressive performance after the interval, pressing the Mexicans from the start and looked very strong from dead-balls.

Ricardo La Volope's side was shocked as striker Jared Borgetti was forced off with a hamstring problem. The leading scorer in qualifying was replaced by Francisco Fonseca.

Mexico, competing in their 13th World Cup, upped the tempo again and skipper Marquez pulled their strings in the middle of the park.

In the 58th minute, Marquez was at the center of a fabulous passing move, playing two brilliant one-twos before falling under a heavy challenge from Golmohammadi in the box, but referee Roberto Rosetti incredibly waved off their plea for a penalty kick.

La Volpe was frustrated at the bench as time went by and a draw was far from enough from his side in Group D, which also consists of Portugal and Angola.

Bravo rose to the occasion to help Mexico to retake the lead and only three minutes later, Antonio Zinha sealed the win with a bullet header from 10 meters out from Mario Mendez's right-wing cross.

Iran captain said Ali Dae said that two mistakes in five minutes cost their point from the games.

"Some individual players made mistakes in five minutes. We lost in just five minutes. We are unlucky. But that's football, we must accept it," the 37-year-old said.

But he said that Iran still have a chance to progress from the group. "We must be positive, we still have a chance."

Mexico coach La Volpe said that his substititions have played a very important role in the second half.

"The substitutions are perfect," he said. "We are nervous in the first half. That's normal for the players in a big stage like the World Cup. But in the second half we controled the position and we won."

Iran coach Ivankovic was left to rue his team's poor second-half performance after impressing in the opening 45 minutes.

"We had the chance to do something today, especially in the first half," said the Croatian.

"We played very well and in the first half maybe we could have scored more than one goal.

"In the second half we were not so good, especially in the first half of the second half. We conceded one goal with a terrible mistake by our defensive line.

"Of course, after that it was much harder for us because the Mexico team is a big team with more experience than us and they know how to keep this result under control."

Around 12,000 Mexican and 7,500 Iranian fans are among the 41, 000 spectators at Nuremberg's Franken Stadium.

Source: Xinhua