Rouzbeh Cheshmi and Ramin Rezaeian scored two late stoppage-time goals to help Iran secure a dramatic 2-0 win against Wales in a Group B encounter that saw Wayne Hennessey see red.
This was the first red card for this year’s tournament and made for some top drama toward the end of the game on Friday. The game was off to an electric start with both teams looking to score the important first goal. The first shot on goal was from Neco Williams in the third minute but the ball went well over the crossbar.
Sardar Azmoun then had the first shot on target in the sixth minute but Wayne Hennessey wasn’t troubled by it. The game went on with some end-to-end stuff and Kiefer Moore had the best chance to put Wales ahead. But his shot was saved by the Iranian goalkeeper Hossein Hosseini from close range.
Iran thought they had gone in front when Azmoun entered the box and squared the ball to Ali Gholizadeh in the 15th minute. However, the video assistant referee stepped in to rule the goal offside.
Both teams continued to apply pressure on each other but to no avail. In stoppage time, Azmoun had another glorious chance, but he couldn’t make any sort of connection to the ball that came in from the right-hand side.
The game restarted with both teams vying for the goal and the best chance came in the 50th minute with Azmoun hitting the post. It was followed up by Gholizadeh hitting the bar before Azmoun’s header was saved by Hennessey.
At the other end, Moore’s header ballooned over the target to get the fans on their feet. Both teams made changes to increase the intensity of the game. Brennan Johnson almost made a difference in the game from the get-go, using his pace to threaten the Iran goal.
The Asian giants decided to increase the pressure up a notch and had a couple of corners towards the 70th minute. Saeed Ezatolahi thought he had scored the opening goal in the 72nd minute as his low long-range effort was tipped away from the target by Hennessey.
Hosseini was then called into action as Ben Davies unleashed a shot on goal in the 82nd minute. The Iranian goalkeeper was on hand to tip it over.
Hennessey then created some drama as he came out to clear a ball but he clattered into Taremi with a high foot. He was given a yellow card at first but then VAR changed the color to red as Wales had to see out the final few minutes with 10 men.
Torabi almost made the Welsh team pay for Hennessey’s mistake as his shot went just wide. Nine minutes were added on as stoppage time and the Welsh team did make some moves into the Iran box. The Asian giants would then took full use of the numbers advantage as Cheshmi scored in the eighth minute of added time to send the fans into ecstasy.
Rezaeian then made sure of the points three minutes later to hand Iran the win on the day.