The ball was in the net. Shoja Khalilzadeh had his shirt off as he slid away in celebration before being mobbed by his team. Team staff collapsed on the turf, and head coach Amir Ghalenoei looked shell-shocked. The stadium was stunned into cheers. Iran had just scored a 90+3-minute winner to seal a place in the Round of 32. Then the on-field referee started his sentence with “After review”. Just like that, it was all over and fans burst into tears.

Iran ended up with a 1-1 draw against Egypt, their third consecutive draw in the group stages. Now their progress into the knockout stages no longer rests in their hands. Ramin Rezaeian broke down during his post-match chat, questioning what more Team Melli could have done.

“I don’t know why we’re this unlucky,” Rezaeian told reporters (translated via Google Translate). “Once, twice, three times, four times, five times. What have these people done to deserve this? I just hope we qualify so they’ll finally have something to smile about.

“Our people deserve so much more than this. So much more. We gave everything we had. It didn’t matter if we died out there today. We would’ve done anything. All we wanted was to make our people happy.”

The defender was right; Iran did quite literally everything. From the get-go, Amir Ghalenoei’s side were on the front foot, pushing Egypt in an attempt to get all three points. They needed a win to secure their place in the Round of 32, but could get through with a draw. Then Mohamed Salah tried to curl one in; after a deflection and a save from a follow-up shot, the ball fell kindly for Mahmoud Saber, who tucked it home.

Barely five minutes on the clock and Egypt were ahead. Two minutes later, Iran had a penalty, and in dramatic fashion, captain Mehdi Taremi had his tame effort saved. Seven minutes after that, and Team Melli had levelled the scores with a brilliant strike from Rezaeian himself.

Iran pushed, Egypt pushed, but neither side could really threaten the other, even with Taremi and Salah alongside a catalogue of others on the field. The Pharaohs dominated the ball (61% possession) and the shot chart (15 to 12), but failed to make the keeper work. Then came the final ten minutes, and the game reignited again.

Taremi, once again, kicked off the action for Iran, hitting the crossbar with his header in the 89th minute. Four minutes later, Iran had their winner. Or so they thought. Unfortunately, it was rightly ruled out for offside with Khalilzadeh beyond the last man after the keeper rushed out.

Three minutes after that, Rezaeian’s shot was blocked bravely by Yasser Ibrahim, stopping a goal-bound effort. Fifty seconds later, Iran’s Saeid Ezatolahi’s header clattered the crossbar. It seemed that fate simply wasn’t on Team Melli’s side, and Rezaeian agreed.

“Like I said, not just me—all the boys gave everything from the bottom of their hearts,” Rezaeian added. “Everyone put everything into it. We deserved to win today. You saw how the Egyptian players celebrated when the offside was given.

“They celebrated from the bottom of their hearts, as if they’d already beaten us. Congratulations to them. Congratulations as well to our coaching staff—they deserve so much more than this. We Iranians don’t lack anything. I just hope we qualify. That’s all I wish for.”

For all the emotion and heartbreak, the result left Iran in a difficult position. Instead of booking their place with that late winner, Team Melli must now rely on results elsewhere to keep their dreams alive.

Iran are still the favourites to make the Round of 32

Few expected Group G to go down to the wire. The mere presence of Belgium and Egypt meant that few gave New Zealand and Iran a chance of qualifying. Then Iran held both New Zealand and the Red Devils to draws, which left things precariously placed going into Matchday 3. A win would have been enough for Iran to go through, with Egypt the only team guaranteed to qualify.

However, a heartbreaking 1-1 draw, alongside Belgium’s 5-1 thumping of New Zealand, means Iran needs results elsewhere to qualify. They sit third in Group G with 3 points and a goal difference of 0, making them the sixth-best third-placed team. Out of 12, only eight qualify for the knockouts with Croatia, Algeria, and DR Congo yet to play.

The odds, however, are on Iran’s side. For them to be knocked out, three things need to happen. Algeria has to draw their game against Austria, Uzbekistan loses to DR Congo, and Croatia earns, at the bare minimum, a point against Ghana.

On the flip side, for Iran to make it into the knockouts, only one of the three needs to happen: a decisive winner in the Algeria-Austria game, Ghana to beat Croatia, or Uzbekistan to beat Congo. It’s not impossible, with odds predictors giving them an 80% chance of going through ahead of those three games.

What helps their cause is that their goal difference is zero, which is better than that of every team below them. That includes Croatia, DR Congo, and Algeria. For now, Rezaeian’s emotional plea sums up Iran’s World Cup campaign. Qualification is still within reach, but after seeing victory slip away against Egypt, Team Melli must wait and hope the remaining results fall their way.