Egypt and Iran drew 1-1 in the early hours of this Saturday (27), in Seattle, a result that guaranteed the African team in the World Cup knockout stage as second place in group G. The Asian team scored in stoppage time, but had its saving goal disallowed by the referee.
In the last minutes of the match, the Iranians crossed the ball into the area and it was free after being shared with goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir. Midfielder Mohammad Ghorbani was blocked by the defense, but the opportunity fell to defender Shojae Khalilzadeh, who found the net.
At that moment, the victory placed Iran in second place in the group, ensuring its place in the round of 16 of the tournament. However, after analysis by the video referee, Polish referee Szymon Marciniak annulled the play.
Speaking to the audience at Lumen Field, the referee revealed that Khalilzadeh was in an offside position at the time of his shot. After Ghorbani’s shot, he was ahead of the second-to-last Egyptian player and thus his goal had to be disallowed.
the Iranian team reached three points and finished third in group G. At the moment, the Middle Eastern country is in , behind the already classified Sweden, Ecuador, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Paraguay and Senegal.
To advance to the knockout stage, Iran needs to defeat the countries in the groups that will end the group stage this Saturday: Algeria (group J), DR Congo (group K) and Croatia (group L).
Ghana, a member of the Croatian group, is already classified having reached four points, and could move into the top two positions in its group or as one of the best third parties. Algeria and DR Congo, in turn, need to win to move forward in the competition.
