Egypt passes second in agony and Iran is left on the tightrope

The Egyptian team certified its qualification for the round of 32 of the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada as second place in Group G after drawing (1-1) this Friday in Seattle against an Iran that narrowly missed the ticket in a dramatic final and is now waiting to see if it remains one of the best eight third places.

At Lumen Field, everything that was most exciting happened at the beginning and, above all, at the end. In added time and after having given the sensation of settling for a draw, the Iranian team experienced a carousel of emotions in an unexpected final fight against an opponent who ended up physically ‘touched’.

First, already in added time, Shoja Khalilzadeh scored almost into an empty goal after a failed exit by the Egyptian goalkeeper and unleashed the euphoria of his team. But by centimeters, the player was offside and from the VOR room they disallowed the goal out of desperation. Even so, Iran grew and had two more chances, one of them a header against the crossbar by Saeid Ezatolahi.

The final whistle brought relief to an Egypt that had been more ambitious and superior after the break, but could not find the goal that would give it first place in the group because Belgium did not fail against New Zealand, and also beat them to surpass the ‘Pharaohs’ in the table in the tie on points.

All after a game that started off fast, with an early goal from Saber after five minutes, a penalty saved by Shobeir from Taremi that only postponed a 1-1 that came shortly after through the incisive right back Rezaiean after a magnificent handball from the rival goalkeeper. All before fifteen minutes of a clash, with a lot of pace in its first 45 minutes, but where there were hardly any clear chances beyond another appearance in the area by Rezaiean and a header by Khalilzadeh.

And after passing through the locker room, Hossam Hassan brought in Marmoush in search of more offensive power and his team were better except in the early stages, although the chances were a trickle, even less so when the Egyptian coach decided to think about the crosses and retired a somewhat ‘touched’ Salah.

Trezeguet had two good options for the ‘Pharaohs’, who saw how the ‘Red Devils’ would take first place from them if they didn’t win. Out of strength, the Egyptians went down and the Iranians, who seemed to prefer that point and wait, took advantage of it in a late reaction that the VAR and the wood prevented them from having to wait to be able to extend their long-suffering visa in this World Cup

TECHNICAL SHEET.

–RESULT: EGYPT, 1 – IRAN, 1 (1-1, at half-time).

–ALIGNMENTS.

EGIPTO: Shobeir; Hany, Rabia, Abdelmonem (Ibrahim, min. 14), El Fotouh; Lasheen, Saber (Ateya, min. 46), Ashour (Marmoush, min. 46), Salah (Zizo, min. 57), Trezeguet y Ziko (Abdelkarim, min. 76).

IRÁN: Beiranvand; Rezaeian, Kanaani (Hardani, min. 46), Khalilzadeh, Nemati, Mohammadi; Ghoddos (Moghanlou, min. 67), Ezatolahi, Ghorbani, Mohebi (Jahanbakhsh, min. 91); y Taremi.

–GOALS.

1-0, minute 5. Know.

1-1, minute 14. Rezaeian.

–REFEREE: Szymon Marciniak (POL). He cautioned Saber (min.20), Ibrahim (min.42) and Lasheen (min.92), for Egypt, and Kanaani (min.19), Nemati (min.43), Ezatolahi (min.69) and Khalilzadeh (min.94), for Iran.

–STADIUM: Lumen Field in Seattle (United States).