Why was the goal that would have qualified Iran for the World Cup disallowed?

Egypt and Iran drew 1-1 in the early hours of this Saturday (27), in Seattle, a result that guaranteed the African team in the World Cup knockout stage as second place in group G. The Asian team scored in stoppage time, but had its saving goal disallowed by the referee.

In the last minutes of the match, the Iranians crossed the ball into the area and it was free after being shared with goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir. Midfielder Mohammad Ghorbani was blocked by the defense, but the opportunity fell to defender Shojae Khalilzadeh, who found the net.

At that moment, the victory placed Iran in second place in the group, ensuring its place in the round of 16 phase of the tournament. However, after analysis by the video referee, Polish referee Szymon Marciniak annulled the play.

In communication with the public present at Lumen Field, the referee revealed that Khalilzadeh was in an offside position at the time of his finish. After Ghorbani's shot, he was ahead of the second-to-last Egyptian player and thus his goal had to be disallowed.

With the same result on the scoreboard, the Iranian team reached three points and ended up in third place in group G. At the moment, the Middle Eastern country is sixth in the third-placed ranking, behind the already classified Sweden, Ecuador, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Paraguay and Senegal.

To advance to the knockout stages of the World Cup, Iran needs to defeat the countries in the groups that will end the group stage this Saturday: Algeria (group J), DR Congo (group K) and Croatia (group L).

Ghana, a member of the Croatian group, is already classified having reached four points, and could reach the top two positions in its group or as one of the best third parties. Algeria and DR Congo, in turn, need to win to move forward in the competition.

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Source: CNN