SEATTLE: Iran had a stoppage-time goal disallowed and settled for a 1-1 draw with Egypt in an intense final Group G game at Seattle Stadium on Friday night.
Defender Shojae Khalilzadeh appeared to have scored the game-winning goal three minutes into second-half stoppage time when he found the back of the net following a flurry of shots at Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shoubir. However, after a VAR review, Khalilzadeh was ruled to have been narrowly offside.
Iran, seeking to advance out of the group stage for the first time, finished third in the group (0-0-3, 3 points) and now must wait to learn their fate. Iran are sixth in the third-place table, where the top eight go through, and still stand a very strong chance of advancing.
Egypt would have topped the group with a win on Friday but settled for second with Belgium beating New Zealand 5-1. Egypt (1-0-2) and Belgium (1-0-2) each have five points, but Belgium top the group on goal differential (plus-4 to plus-2).
Instead of returning to Seattle on July 1 for their round of 32 game, Egypt will travel to Arlington, Texas, to play Australia on July 3. The "Pharaohs" are undefeated through three matches and have advanced out of the group stage for the first time in their World Cup history.
"Today, we did not know how tough the match would be," Egypt coach Hossam Hassan said, per translation. "The players were ready and they knew the plan."
Egypt needed to survive a desperate and spirited charge from Iran following the second half hydration break. The intensity ratcheted up even further in stoppage time, with Iran later hitting the crossbar shortly after Khalilzadeh's disallowed goal.
Hassan started a strong lineup in search of the win, although he did sub off former Liverpool star forward Mohamed Salah in the 57th minute. Salah was seen receiving treatment on his leg, but Hassan said he was not concerned about his availability against Australia.
"I think he will be back," Hassan said. "I spoke to Salah, he assured me that it's going to be OK."
Despite the late flurry of action, there were no goals following the first 15 minutes of the match.
Egypt's Mahmoud Saber opened the scoring by drilling a loose ball past multiple Iranian defenders and through the legs of goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand in the fifth minute.
Iran refused to be deflated, however. Mehdi Taremi earned a penalty kick in the 11th minute, only to be thwarted by an excellent save by Shoubir on a diving stop. Iran continued to bring the pressure and Shoubir's next diving save three minutes later was punched back just inside the side post by Ramin Rezaeian for the equalizer.
That also brought on the first substitution of the night with defender Mohamed Abdelmoneim -- who committed the foul to set up the penalty kick and was struggling in the back end -- staying down after a clearance. He was replaced by Yasser Ibrahim.
There would be plenty of action but no additional scoring in a first half that saw 14 combined shots -- five on goal -- and four yellow cards issued.
