How Iran’s disallowed goal in final minutes potentially cost country spot in World Cup knockout stage originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Iran experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows in the final minutes of Friday’s critical Group G match against Egypt.
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After a goal in stoppage appeared to send the nation to the knockout stage for the first time with a win, a review took the goal off the board and sent Iranian fans from bliss to heartbreak in a matter of seconds.
Iran had two more opportunities at the net but missed, hitting the crossbar on a last-minute header attempt, and only Egypt walked off the field in Seattle knowing definitively that it would advance.
Here’s a look at Iran’s would-be game-winner and why it was overturned.
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Why Iran’s goal vs. Egypt was disallowed
Shojae Khalilzadeh believed he scored the go-ahead and likely game-winning goal in stoppage time against Egypt, but VAR technology determined he was offside and the goal was taken off the board.
Here’s a look at the sequence:
Because of the goalkeeper’s position, Khalilzadeh needed to be in front of two defenders. He was in front of one, but VAR determined his foot was behind the other.
Iran recovered well enough to have a couple of massive opportunities in the closing minutes, including this shot that went off the crossbar, but there ultimately wasn’t enough time to produce a goal. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.
Egypt dropped to second in the group because Belgium jumped ahead in the goal differential tiebreaker, but a draw was still enough to automatically advance. The same can’t be said for Iran. Here’s a look at Iran’s position heading into the final day of the group stage.
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Is Iran out of the World Cup?
Iran’s fate will be decided by the final three groups still to play on Saturday.
With three points and an even goal differential, Iran currently ranks sixth among the third-place teams. Eight third-place teams will qualify, and the five currently ahead of Iran are all locked into a spot in the knockout stage. That leaves three more third-place qualifying slots up for grabs.
South Korea, Scotland and Uruguay are all below Iran in the standings, which bodes well for the country. There are scenarios, however, in which the third-place teams from Groups J, K and L all have at least four points and finish ahead of Iran.
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Iran has more wiggle room than South Korea, for example, but a scenario in which DR Congo wins, Algeria and Austria draw and the worst of England, Ghana and Croatia finishes with at least four points is quite realistic. That’s the clearest scenario Iran has to root against on Saturday.
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