Iran edged Morocco 1-0 in their first World Cup match at the St. Petersburg Stadium on Friday after Morocco forward Aziz Bouhaddouz headed in an own goal late into injury time.

"You could see that we should have won but that's football. [We] thought that the match will end goalless but we conceded late on. It hurts and it's hard to accept the result, but it happens... No one expected us to lose," Boussoufa told journalists.

The 33-year-old midfielder added that it was a pleasure for him to be in Russia and play at the "fantastic" stadium in St. Petersburg.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicked off on Thursday and will continue until 15 July, with a total of 64 matches set to be played at 12 stadiums across 11 Russian cities.

Morocco will next play Portugal on 20 June and Spain on 25 June.