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Egypt and Iran have drawn 1-1 at the 2026 World Cup after Shojae Khalilzadeh had a go-ahead goal in second-half stoppage time disallowed by VAR for offside.
Mohamed Salah's side finish in second place in Group G after securing qualification for the knockout stage before the match kicked off.
Iran finish in third place and are likely to progress as well for the first time in their history.
In Group G's other match, Belgium beat New Zealand 5-1 to take first place.
GO FURTHER
Why VAR ruled Iran’s ‘winner’ offside to put them at risk of World Cup exit as Egypt progress
One final day of group games separates us from the knockout stage, and the stakes are high – tomorrow's fixtures in Groups J, K and L will determine the final four spots in the round of 32:
Colombia-Portugal headlines the slate, with The Athletic's projection model giving Portugal a 55 per cent chance of finishing first in Group K and Colombia just behind at 45 per cent.
Iran captain Mehdi Taremi has just layed into FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino in the mixed zone.
He described the World Cup as a “disaster” and said Iran’s campaign has been undermined by having to travel to and from Tijuana without being able to recover from matches. He questioned whether there are forces that want them out of the competition.
When you first see Shoja Khalilzadeh crashing in Iran’s “winning” goal it might be hard to understand why it was ultimately ruled out for offside. Add in that the strike would have guaranteed a World Cup knockout place and it becomes a decision of immense significance.
To be onside there must be two opposition players between an attacker and the goal when the ball is played to them. In most cases that is the goalkeeper, plus one defending outfield player.
By that law, Khalilzadeh looks onside at first. However, that is not the moment the ball has been played to him. He receives the ball after it has rebounded off the Egypt goalkeeper.
At this point, Khalilzadeh would still appear to be onside as there is a defender and the goalkeeper between him and the goal as the ball comes out to him. But look at the image above and you will see that at the moment the ball is initially played forward, there is in fact only one opposition player between Khalilzadeh and the goalline.
The unusual thing here is that the goalkeeper has advanced beyond the attacker and while it is very tight, the VAR technology below shows that Khalilzadeh is indeed ahead of all but one Egypt player, and therefore offside.
Despite scoring for Iran tonight, Ramin Rezaeian did not look very happy when accepting his man of the match award after VAR denied his team a win and an automatic place in the knockout stage.
Just look at the way Iran dominated the final 25 per cent of this match (I refuse to surrender to the hydration breaks and call it a quarter). They came so close on several occasions to grabbing the winning goal they needed to clinch automatic qualification for the knockout stage.
Egypt would have been through to the round of 32 regardless, but had they lost this match, they'd be facing Switzerland next instead of Australia.
As we touched on earlier, Egypt may have had more shots, but it’s pretty clear who had the better quality of chances in front of goal.
Iran so, so unlucky to not find a second until stoppage time, only to see that ruled out due to such a tight offside call.
Egypt have gone undefeated in three straight World Cup matches for the first time, and have also made it out of a group stage for the first time in their World Cup history.
What a way to highlight what may very well be Mo Salah’s final World Cup.
Thanks to our friends at Opta for that nugget.
Egypt saw multiple players go down with injury today, highlighted by defender Mohamed Abdelmonem coming off in just the 14th minute after staying down on the pitch following an early clearence.
More concerningly, Mo Salah walked off the field in the 57th minute. It seemed like a normal substitution at first, until Salah sat in the dugout getting treatment on his leg.
At the risk of stating the obvious, Egypt desperately need their captain and star man fit if they have any sort of hope of progressing deep into this tournament, starting with their match against Australia on July 2.
How far can Egypt advance in this tournament? Should Iran feel aggrieved by VAR? And what about that first half?
Simon Hughes and Laurie Whitwell cover all that and more in our match briefing here.
GO FURTHER
Why VAR ruled Iran’s ‘winner’ offside to put them at risk of World Cup exit as Egypt progress
It has more to do with Belgium winning so convincingly over New Zealand than anything else. But tonight was not a great night for USMNT fans.
As Group D winners, the USMNT’s most likely opponent in the round of 16 — provided, of course, they get past Bosnia in the Round of 32 — are the Group G winners, who we now know will be Belgium.
U.S. fans would have likely preferred facing Egypt, as the USMNT are currently in a 11-game winless streak against European sides. That includes a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Belgium in a March friendly, though Mauricio Pochettino’s side are much improved since then.
This is the offside call that took away Iran's late go-ahead goal, and cost them automatic qualification to the knockout stage.
VAR is a great thing sometimes, but to rob Iran and their fans of this moment seems especially harsh.
A closer look at the Iran goal that was called offside pic.twitter.com/8fZAfGuEum
At first glance, that Egypt-Australia matchup looks like a fascinating one.
Egypt have some very technically skilled wingers, led of course by a Premier League legend in Mo Salah.
But they struggled with Iran’s size tonight. Australia are not as dangerous on the counter as Iran, but they play a low block and like to use size to their advantage. That will be a test for Egypt.
As you can see above, Egypt had far more possession and more shots — but Iran had all the best chances, and only an extremely tight offsides call prevented them from taking home all three points tonight.
If Iran do advance to the round of 32, they will likely face Group B winners Switzerland in Vancouver on July 2.
Their potential opponents in the round of 16 include Portugal, Colombia and Croatia.
Iran have a 92 per cent chance of advancing to the knockout stage for the first time in their history, according to our projections.
Here's the combination of results that would all need to happen tomorrow to prevent that from happening:
It's very easy to imagine each of those results occurring in a vacuum. Iran's advantage is the unlikelihood that all three will transpire.
So the Group G dust settles with Belgium topping the group thanks to their big win over New Zealand.
Egypt finish second, with both sides on five points but Egypt two back of Belgium on goal difference.
Iran will have to sweat out the third-place standings while New Zealand are eliminated.
Iran's players applauded off by lots of Egyptian supporters. I make that the best injury time of the tournament so far for the all-important drama.
Iran players have remained in various positions on the pitch, getting consoled by staffers whether they were standing, slumped or laying down.
Several of them had tears in their eyes, including goalscorer Ramin Rezaeian.
Iran head coach Amir Ghalenoei sat by himself in the team dugout, staring off into space.
That was marvellous. In the last 20 minutes, Egypt thought they were first in the group, seemed as though they had tumbled to third only to finish second after an Iran goal in injury time was ruled out by VAR.
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