Football World Cup: Belgium fails again – second point for Iran

After an emergency stop by Nathan Ngoy (66th minute), Belgium played outnumbered for almost half an hour. Before the final duel with Egypt, Iran has a real chance of reaching the knockout phase for the first time at a World Cup.

The game started as expected: Belgium led by De Bruyne immediately took control and brought the ball into Iran’s penalty area early on. Because Romelu Lukaku, who was called into the starting line-up, came too late and crashed into Iran’s goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand, the goalscorer was already booked in the third minute to make it 1-1 against Egypt. Beiranvand was always there when he was needed. The 33-year-old kept the score 0-0 against Maxim De Cuyper (9th), Tielemans (22nd) and again De Cuyper (44th).

In the last half hour Belgium played outnumbered

Iran concentrated on defending and had great difficulty keeping the ball in their own ranks. Most of the time, a technical impropriety when receiving or an inaccurate pass brought Belgium back into possession of the ball after just a few seconds. However: In front of an audience that loudly booed the Iranian anthem, as in the 2-2 draw against New Zealand, but then celebrated every successful move by Iran during the game, the Asians also came dangerously in front of the Belgian goal. The Belgians often acted without ideas.

Thibaut Courtois had to show his class in the 14th minute when he directed Hossein Kanaanizadegan’s shot towards a corner. In the 25th minute, the Real Madrid goalkeeper even had to admit defeat. Iran took a flat free kick, Mehdi Taremi scored from the turn – however, after minutes of review, the goal did not count because the goal scorer was just offside.

In the 53rd minute, Taremi forced Belgium’s goalkeeper Courtois to make another brilliant save when he finished from eleven meters after a long throw-in in the penalty area. Belgium appeared to be out of ideas against the defensive Iranians, and their final attempts repeatedly failed due to an outstretched leg of an Iranian defender or goalkeeper Beiranvand. Like in the 59th minute, when he was already lying on the ground and defused De Cuyper’s follow-up shot.

From the 66th minute onwards, Belgium played outnumbered. Ngoy stumbled on a back pass and knocked Taremi to the ground, who would otherwise have run towards Courtois alone. From then on, Iran played with one more man, and in the 81st minute Ezatolahi managed a long-range shot, which Courtois saved in the follow-up.