A Game Of Inches: 4 Takeaways From A Dizzying Iran-Egypt Draw

For about 20 seconds in Seattle, Iran had won their World Cup. Shoja Khalilzadeh bundled in a stoppage-time winner, the bench was halfway onto the pitch, and Team Melli were through. Then VAR drew its lines, and the celebration got erased by the width of a sleeve. Final score: Egypt 1, Iran 1. 

Mahmoud Saber put Egypt ahead inside five minutes, Ramin Rezaeian leveled it from an angle that shouldn't exist, and the rest of the night belonged to the goal that didn't count.

Here are my takeaways from Egypt's 1-1 draw with Iran:

Sit with the math for a second, because it's brutal. Khalilzadeh's disallowed winner wasn't just three points. Had it stood, Iran would have beaten Egypt 2-1, leapfrogged them into second on head-to-head, and marched into the Round of 32 as group runners-up. Egypt? Down to third. 

Instead, the flag went up, the score stayed level, and the dominoes fell the other way. Simultaneously, Belgium took advantage of being the heavy favorites and hammered New Zealand 5-1, stealing top spot on goal difference. Egypt slid through as runners-up. Iran is left to wait for the third-placed lottery. 

One offside call, three nations rearranged. We say tournaments change based on an inch. Tonight in Seattle, it was the slightest measurement.

 (Photo by Al Sermeno/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)

Rewind seven months and Mohamed Salah had overstayed his welcome at Liverpool. Benched, feuding with Arne Slot, by his own account thrown under the bus, a confirmed summer exit after nine memorable years at Anfield. The league's top scorer in May, an unused sub by December. 

Now look at him. Hossam Hassan dragged Salah off the wing into a central No. 10 role, hid the half-yard of pace that Father Time repossessed, and