“After review,” began the Polish referee Szymon Marciniak, those two words breaking the hearts of Iran after they thought they scrambled an unlikely 93rd-minute winner. Moments earlier, the 37-year-old Shoja Khalilzadeh fired in from the edge of the six-yard box, whipped off his No 4 shirt in double-quick time and slid on to his knees before being mobbed by his teammates and nestled at the bottom of a pile-on. One member of Iran’s backroom team collapsed onto his back on the turf amid the delirium. Another planted a kiss on Khalilzadeh’s forehead before the defender donned a pair of sunglasses given to him by one of the many substitutes who had swiftly emptied on to the pitch.
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But the joy was short-lived, Marciniak playing party-pooper after a VAR review showed Khalilzadeh offside after Mostafa Shobeir rushed from his goal to punch clear the free-kick from which Iran thought they had snatched victory. And the late drama did not stop there either. Seventeen seconds after the minimum of six minutes of second-half stoppage time, Yasser Ibrahim made a monumental block to repel Ramin Rezaeian’s shot after the ball squirted free and then six minutes and 53 seconds into added time Iran’s Saeid Ezatolahi sent a header against the crossbar. Shoubir, who was magnificent in the Egypt goal, moved his hands towards the ball but was beaten.
Amid the frenetic finish, it was easy to forget Mehdi Taremi’s 89th-minute header also cannoned against the woodwork. When Marciniak called time on a game that began brightly but appeared to be fizzling out until the late drama, the game was more than 100 minutes old. Belgium’s 5-1 trouncing of New Zealand combined with this draw meant, as runners-up in Group G, Egypt will face Australia in the last 32, while three straight draws for Iran means an agonising wait to find out whether they will join them in the knockout stage. Iran’s fate hinges on how Croatia, Algeria and Democratic Republic of the Congo fare in the next 24 hours but all would have been so different had one of those late moments gone in their favour. No wonder Amir Ghalenoei slumped in his dugout at the final whistle.
For so long, the meat of this game was crammed into nine of the opening 14 minutes: Egypt taking the lead, Iran thwarted from the penalty spot and then equalising a few moments later. Mahmoud Saber struck before Shobeir kept out Taremi’s poor penalty after Mohamed Abdelmonem’s clumsy foul on him amid seemingly little danger. Iran levelled when Rezaeian wellied the rebound of Milad Mohammadi’s shot into the roof of the net after Shobeir’s save sent the ball skidding free. But anyone here in a crestfallen stadium and those watching at home will remember this game for the late chaos.
