Shoja Khalilzadeh thought he had done it. In stoppage time in Seattle, the Iran defender bundled the ball past Egypt’s goalkeeper, sparking wild celebrations on the touchline. The goal would have sent Iran into the World Cup knockout stage for the first time in their history. Instead, after a short delay, the referee signalled that VAR had ruled it out for offside. Saeid Ezatolah then headed against the bar moments later, and the match finished 1-1, leaving Iran to wait on results elsewhere to see if they advance as one of the best third-placed sides.
The frustration was not limited to the disallowed goal. Iran’s head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, accused the tournament’s co-hosts, the United States, of treating his team “very unfairly” and called on Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, to “stand up” to them.
“Iran coach Ghalenoei criticises US hosts and urges Fifa's Infantino to act after VAR denies late winner.”
“I know Mr Infantino has tried his best to minimise the problems as much as possible,” Ghalenoei said in his post-match press conference. “But it was the host that wasn’t very good to us. I urge Fifa to not let the hosts treat teams and players the same way in the future. I hope Mr Infantino will actually stand up to such behaviour.”
Infantino visited Iran’s dressing room after their group G opener against New Zealand, telling the squad “you are stronger than everything”. But Ghalenoei, who earlier described Iran as the “most oppressed” team at the World Cup, indicated little had changed since that meeting. Iran’s captain, Mehdi Taremi, was more blunt. He criticised Fifa for failing to secure visas for 11 senior Iranian officials who were denied entry to the United States.
“Since the beginning, it’s a disaster World Cup,” Taremi said. “I mean, Fifa, they have to solve every problem here but unfortunately this they couldn’t solve since the beginning. Mr Infantino came to our changing room [after the] first game and he said: ‘It’s just the beginning.’ But [the] group stage finishes tomorrow and we don’t have our logistic people here, they don’t have a visa. How [is that] possible?”
Asked whether he believed the US and Fifa wanted Iran out of the tournament, the Olympiakos forward said: “We have to fight against everything here. I don’t know what people want or know, but as we see it by our perspective, yeah, they’d like that, I think.”
Iran were due to land in Tijuana, Mexico – where they are based after being forced to switch training bases before the tournament – at 3am on Saturday, after being denied permission to stay in Seattle. Despite the setbacks, Ghalenoei praised his players. “To my players and the team, I want to say to them I’m proud of them,” he said. “What these young people, these players have done, it should be written in history …”
For now, Iran’s history remains unwritten. They must wait 24 hours to see if other results allow them to squeeze into the last 32 as one of the best third-placed sides.