Iran wait on World Cup progress after late goal disallowed in Egypt draw

SEATTLE: Iran face an anxious wait to see if they will progress to the World Cup knockout stage after they came from behind to hold Egypt to a 1-1 draw, which ended in dramatic fashion with an apparent last-ditch winner ruled out for offside.

Egypt, whose qualification for the last-32 was already guaranteed, took the lead inside five minutes through Mahmoud Saber, before Ramin Rezaeian equalised from a tight angle in the 14th minute of a frantic start on Friday (Jun 26).

The early action fizzled out as the game became scrappy until a remarkable finale in which Iran hit the woodwork before snatching what seemed a famous win, only to have VAR intervene.

Iran's Mehdi Taremi – who had a penalty saved in the first half – hit the crossbar with a late header before Shoja Khalilzadeh fired home in the 93rd minute, sparking wild celebrations as the Iran bench streamed onto the pitch.

But Khalilzadeh had strayed just offside and Egypt clung on for a draw, which means they finish second with five points, behind Belgium on goal difference, and will play Australia in Dallas on Jul 3 in the knockout phase.

Iran are third on three points and must wait for confirmation that they will go through as one of the eight best third-placed teams.

Coach Amir Ghalenoei bemoaned his side's luck after a third consecutive draw.

"Over these three matches, we did not get the reward for our efforts," Iranian state media reported him as saying.

"Footballing justice was not on our side."

"It's something unbelievable, I think it's history," Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir, who saved Taremi's early penalty, said of his team's achievement in reaching the knockout phase for the first time. "We will celebrate tonight and then starting from tomorrow we are going to