After 72 games and more than 7,000 minutes played, the group stage of the World Cup is over. The skeleton of the further part of the competition has been formed, 32 national teams will continue the fight for the most prestigious football trophy, while the rest of the “team” say goodbye and return to their homes around the world.
And the national team that missed the continuation of the tournament literally by a “hair” and that will need some time to digest this truly unfortunate failure is Iran. The national team that arrived at the championship in the shadow of political events and controversies at the tournament left a good impression, moreover, they did not record a single defeat, but they will not go any further.
Iran recorded three draws at the tournament, respectively against all teams from their group; New Zealand (2:2), Belgium (0:0) and Egypt (1:1). Therefore, they ended the performance in third place with three points, and looking at the overall ranking of the third-placed players, they finished in ninth place, exactly below the eight “lucky ones” who secured a ticket to the knockout stage. Senegal, for example, which finished just like that eighth third-placed team, lost twice in the championship, but with a convincing 5:0 victory against Iraq, they advanced with a goal difference of plus two. Iran, of course, remained at “zero” in terms of goal difference, according to the three recorded draws.
There is no doubt that, therefore, Iran is the “unluckiest team of the World Cup”. This is supported by the end of their last match in the group, the one against Egypt, in which Iran was already celebrating progress, but their dreams were destroyed in the ugliest possible way. In the third minute of stoppage time Shoja Khalilzadeh he scored, it seemed at the time, to a great celebration for Iran, but a few moments later the goal was disallowed due to the backfield. Minimal, at first and a little confusing, but still clear and evident.
VAR thus once again showed its “ugly side”, becoming famous as a “killer of emotions”. This case especially hurt Zlatan Ibrahimović, who works as an expert commentator for FOX Sports at the World Cup, and who claimed after the aforementioned match that “people lose faith in VAR, which continues to generate great controversies even on the biggest football stage, because of situations like this”.
– I watched the video countless times and I still don’t understand how it is possible to award the backfield. If they are going to disallow a goal that could decide their nation’s fate at the World Cup, they need to be 100% sure, not guessing. Millions of Iranians celebrated what they saw as a historic moment, only to see it nullified in seconds by a panel of judges. They didn’t just cancel the goal, they stole the dream of a nation – said the Swede.
Ibrahimović’s words are somewhat incomprehensible, especially when you consider that he is a former soccer player. The mentioned situation (VIDEO, 8:20) at first caused debate, but very quickly it was pointed out and it became clear that one of the players of Egypt became the last in the line of his team, switching roles with the goalkeeper who flew out. The decision on the hinterland is therefore, we repeat, unquestionable. But Ibrahimović still wonders…
– The referee and VAR-officials must be responsible for such decisions. This is not justice, this is incompetence. Football deserves better, the players deserve better and, above all, the fans deserve much better – he concluded.
