VAR drama leaves Iran’s World Cup knockouts fate hanging after 1-1 draw vs Egypt

Iran, meanwhile, were left to look towards other matches to learn their fate. At  the end of the game, they were the sixth-best third-place team, with the top eight eligible for qualification to the round of 32. Their passage will now be dependent on results of matches involving 2018 runners-up Croatia, Algeria and DR Congo, all of whom play their final group games on Sunday.

Chaos all the way through with pockets of calm

The chaos at Seattle Stadium at the end of the match was a fitting reflection of the fact that all four teams had a chance of going through at the start of the evening. Egypt were top of the group, Iran second, the Belgium of De Bruyne, Courtois and Lukaku third and New Zealand fourth. Apart from this, there were also sounds of political discontent with FIFA planning this game as a “Pride Match” to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community in Seattle.

All voices around the latter topic seemed to die out when the game began, especially when Egypt took the lead in the fifth minute through Mahmoud Saber. Egypt’s great hope Mohamed Salah went for a left-footed curler from just outside the box, something that Liverpool fans would be quite familiar with, which was saved by goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand. However, the ball then went to Saber whose shot didn’t carry any venom and yet, it went right through Beiranvand’s hands and legs.

Beiranvand was nigh unbeatable in Iran’s previous match in which they held Belgium to a 0-0 draw. And yet, in this case, he might as well have not been there at all. For those supporting Iran who held interest in signs and superstitions, this didn’t say anything good about what’s to come for the rest of the evening.

And their suspicions got another confirmation just four minutes later.

Captain Mehdi Taremi, another inspirational Team Melli protagonist, was clipped inside the Egyptian box by Mohamed Abdelmonem and the referee pointed to the spot immediately. Taremi went with a sidefooted shot, it was too kind for Shobeir and he dived to his left to make a comfortable save. More Iranian hands on heads but they pushed on.

Three minutes after that Iran’s veteran full back Ramin Rezaeian got to a rebound after yet another save by Shobeir and this time, the ball went in. Iran were level. Egypt took control after that for a while to no avail and the score remained 1-1 at the end of the first half in which both sides were exchanging blows.

Salah was taken off in the 57th minute and Egypt dropped back for a bit. By this point, Belgium were leading 2-0 and the Iranians seemed to be feeling the heat. There were a couple of rather ambitious long balls booted hopefully towards Taremi from one side of the field to the other. All that did was give the ball back to Egypt, who grew in confidence as the half progressed. The Egyptians continued in the same vein even when Belgium had scored a third, which meant that they had dropped down to second place in the group.

The status quo went for a toss towards the end, starting with Iran finally winning their first corner of the match in the 88th minute. They kept the pressure on and it all came to a crescendo with that disallowed goal. Eventually, Egypt kept them out and the shock felt by the Iranians was reflected by the fact that their head coach Amir Ghalenoei remained seated in the dugout for over 15 minutes after the final whistle.