World Cup Roundup: Mexico makes it personal

NUREMBERG, Germany — Mexico's raucous crowd left the stadium singing and chanting in red, green and white waves of unbridled joy. Oswaldo Sanchez, still mourning the death of a father who dreamed of watching him play in the World Cup, left the field with a smile.

Iran, meanwhile, missed a chance to replace talk of political turmoil with discussion of its on-field success.

Hours after the echoes of a protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime faded in this Bavarian city, Iran had hoped to salvage at least one point from its World Cup opener on Sunday.

Mexico, whose goalkeeper had to fly home on Thursday to bury his father, had other ideas, scoring twice in the last 15 minutes for a 3-1 victory.

El Tri's players rushed to hug Sanchez, who rejoined them Saturday night.

Brazilian-born midfielder Zinha, who scored Mexico's third goal, said the team dedicated the win to "our great friend Oswaldo, who is a great person."

"What courage to go through such a difficult thing and then represent your country like it's supposed to be done," said Zinha, also known as Antonio Naelson.

Felipe Sanchez died of a heart attack on Wednesday while preparing to come to Germany to watch his son play.

"It was my dad's dream for me to be here, playing in the World Cup, and I am happy," Sanchez said.

The 32-year-old keeper made two previous World Cup trips, in 1998 and 2002, but was a reserve.

Sanchez, given flowers and condolences from the Iranian team before the match, turned in a solid outing just 24 hours after returning from Mexico — so much so that Mexico coach Ricardo Lavolpe said the keeper appeared "to have an angel watching over him."

Iran coach Branko Ivankovic was left to explain how his team fell apart late in the second half — and whether politics had cast a shadow on the field.

"Nobody is allowed to discuss politics," Ivankovic said. "We are allowed to discuss the opponent, to discuss football and, in this case, to discuss Mexico."

Omar Bravo's second goal of the match, in the 76th minute, put Mexico up 2-1. Three minutes later, two second-half substitutions hooked up for the clincher when Zinha headed in Francisco Fonseca's cross.

"In the first half, everyone was very nervous," Lavolpe said. "We weren't getting possession of the ball. In the second half, the team stabilized. We had more possession, and that's why we won the game."

Netherlands 1, Serbia-Montenegro 0

LEIPZIG — The Netherlands relied on the lightning speed of winger Arjen Robben for a win over Serbia-Montenegro to join favorite Argentina at the top of Group C, considered the toughest of the first round.

In a clockwork move in the 18th minute, Mark van Bommel fed a long pass to Robin van Persie near midfield. The winger delicately lobbed it over the defense toward Robben, who coolly slipped the ball under goalkeeper Dragoslav Jevric.

Portugal 1, Angola 0

COLOGNE — Portugal broke its slump in opening games at major tournaments, hanging on against World Cup newcomer Angola behind Pauleta's goal in the fourth minute.

It was Pauleta's 47th goal for Portugal, which was upset at the 2002 World Cup by the United States.