In a last-gasp effort, Iran sinks Wales in the FIFA World Cup

It was Carlos Queiroz’s men who kept their Fifa World Cup campaign alive with a 2-0 win over 10-man Iran sinks Wales on Friday as the Iranians scored two goals deep into added time to retain their World Cup campaign.

Thousands of Iranian supporters erupted in joy when Iran beat a European team at a World Cup for the first time, singing the national anthem before the game.

As a result of his clattering into Mehdi Taremi late in the game, Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey became the first player to  send off in this tournament.

The game was level until Rouzbeh Cheshmi’s powerful strike in the 98th minute broke the deadlock. Iran struck the woodwork twice.

Three minutes after the goal had gone in, Ramin Rezaeian put in a second on the counterattack.

In their opening match against England, Iran had lost 6-2, which would have resulted in elimination. Instead, they went second in Group B, behind England.

The Welsh fell to the bottom of the group, and to qualify for the knockout stage in their first World Cup since 1958, they must defeat English neighbors in their final match next week.

Earlier on Friday, the United States of America will take on England in a friendly match.

It was a remarkable change from the players’ stance prior to the match against England, during which they remained silent as a symbol of solidarity with the protests against the government.

When the Iranian national anthem  played, several Iranian fans broke down in tears.

 Iran sinks Wales for bright beginnings

A few days after his impressive appearance as a substitute against the USA, Wales manager Rob Page made the decision to start striker Kieffer Moore at the start of the game.

As a result of Bournemouth’s flick-on, Neco Williams found himself with a good opportunity to score early in the match, but his shot just went over the bar.

When Moore went for a volley from Connor Roberts’ cross, Hossein Hosseini parried his effort, giving the Welsh their first opportunity.

A few minutes later, Iran thought they scored, but Ali Gholizadeh  clearly offside before he tapped in, and the goal ruled out by Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

Soon after half-time, a cagey game suddenly burst into life with a crazy 20-second spell that shifted the momentum of the match. It was Sardar Azmoun who sped ahead of the Welsh defence but saw his shot come back off the post after beating the Welsh defence.

As the ball was recycled to Gholizadeh, he curled a beautiful strike from outside the box which bounced off the other upright, allowing Azmoun’s follow-up to be saved by Hennessey.

Taremi appeared to be on the verge of scoring every time Iran moved forward, and Ethan Ampadu had to make an exceptional block to prevent that.

As Saeid Ezatolahi’s low shot was heading for the post, Wales had Hennessey to thank for keeping things level with 17 minutes left.

During the final minutes of the game, both sides realized that a draw was probably not enough and both sides turned to each other for assistance.

Iran team benefited from Hennessey’s reckless

The Iran team benefited from Hennessey’s reckless charging out of his goal and collision with Mehdi Taremi in the 86th minute when they pushed for the winner.

It was surprising to see Guatemalan referee Mario Escobar initially book the keeper, but he had to correct his mistake after a video assistant reviewed the video, and Hennessey dismissed.

Danny Ward stood to defend Leicester’s goal and quickly saw Mehdi Torabi’s attempt go over.

It was an emotionally charged day for Iran and their supporters, but it was topped off right at the bitter end when Cheshmi hammered home from just outside the box and Rezaeian raced clear to clip over Ward and give Iran the victory.