LOS ANGELES:
Iran’s veteran goalkeeper Elireza Baranvand’s flawless performance helped Iran to a goalless draw against Belgium at the 2026 FIFA World Cup after a tough encounter.
In the match, 33-year-old Ali Raza Biranwend made many brilliant saves and prevented the Belgian attackers from scoring.
In the first half, he defeated a dangerous attempt by Yuri Telemans and a few minutes after the start of the second half, he stopped Maxime de Kuyper’s decisive goal in the best way and changed the direction of the match.
Belgium suffered a big blow in the 66th minute of the match and 23-year-old defender Nathan Ngoye was shown a red card for a professional foul on Mehdi Tarimi. He became the youngest player to receive a red card at the World Cup since 2014.
In the early moments of the match, Belgium had more control of the ball and made several attacks, but due to Iran’s defense and good goalkeeping by Beranwend, they could not take the lead.
Iran tried to take the lead in the 25th minute when Mehdi Tarmi headed a free goal into the net, but after a lengthy VAR review, the goal was ruled out for offside.
As a result, the semi-finalists of the 2018 World Cup, Belgium, drew the second group in a row and now their passage to the next stage is in danger.
On the other hand, Iran managed to avoid defeat in the opening two matches for the first time in its history of the World Cup and keep alive its hope of reaching the elimination stage.
