Goals have been hard to come at times in Qatar, but Iran found two after 98 minutes against Wales.
Roozbeh Cheshmi broke a stalemate eight minutes into second-half stoppage time and Ramin Rezaeian added another tally three minutes later to give Iran a stunning 2-0 victory at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium on Friday.
With three points, Iran vaulted to second place in Group B. Wales, meanwhile, is stuck at one point after drawing the U.S. men’s national team on Monday.
Iran came close to finding the back of the net early in the second half. Sardar Azmoun hit the right post with a shot in the 51st minute, and seconds later Ali Gholizadeh booted a shot past Welsh goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey only for it to hit the left post.
Wales went down to 10 men in the 86th minute after Hennessey collided with Iran’s Mehdi Taremi. VAR upgraded an initial yellow card to red, forcing Hennessey and Aaron Ramsey out of the game in place of backup goalkeeper Danny Ward. The red card was the first one handed out at the 2022 World Cup.
Mehdi Torabi tested Ward almost immediately, but his shot from just outside the box whizzed past the right post to keep the match deadlocked at 0-0 in the 88th minute. Nine minutes of stoppage time were added, and Iran capitalized on its man advantage to secure the win.
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The USMNT and England will square off against one another at 2 p.m. ET on Friday looking to move up the Group B table.
Iran will close group play with a match against the USMNT, while Wales still has to battle England. Both of those matches will begin at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
