It Ainโt Over โtil Itโs Over ๐ฅ
Well, that was off the syllabus. Nobody saw that coming. Isn't that the beauty of this game? There is no strong or weak; it's all about passion and excitement. It was supposed to be the "golden day" in Wales's history. Golden? Definitely not, but history has been written.
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A penalty from Gareth Bale helped Wales salvage a point against the USA in their first encounter in Group B. Qualifying for only their second World Cup and first in 64 years, Rob Pageโs team found themselves down when Timothy Weah broke the stalemate in the first half before Bale struck the equalizer.
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๐๐ช๐ต๐ฎ ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ 110๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฒ๐ธ๐ป ๐ช๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ท๐ฌ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ผ, ๐ผ๐พ๐ป๐น๐ช๐ผ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ช๐ถ๐ถ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฎ ๐๐ฑ๐ป๐ฒ๐ผ ๐๐พ๐ท๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป (109) ๐ช๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ถ๐ธ๐ผ๐ฝ ๐ฌ๐ช๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ญ ๐น๐ต๐ช๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฒ๐ท ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ท๐ช๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท'๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ธ๐ป๐.
Wales made just one change to the team that drew with the USA last time out. It came in the attack, with Bournemouth striker Moore replacing James, who was dropped to the bench. Allen was also named as a substitute after coming back from injury.
WALES XI (3-5-2): Wayne Hennessey; Chris Mepham, Joe Rodon, Ben Davies; Connor Roberts, Aaron Ramsey, Ethan Ampadu, Harry Wilson, Neco Williams; Gareth Bale, Kieffer Moore.
SUBS: Danny Ward, Adam Davies, Chris Gunter, Joe Allen, Brennan Johnson, Joe Morrell, Tom Lockyer, Jonny Williams, Mark Harris, Dan James, Sorba Thomas, Dylan Levitt, Ben Cabango, Rubin Colwill, Matt Smith.
#WAL pic.twitter.com/vbxcIlL3qq
โ FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) November 25, 2022
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As for Iran, they were at the bottom of Group B after losing 6-2 against England in their first match. Goals from Jude Bellingham and Raheem Sterling and a brace from Bukayo Saka gave Gareth Southgateโs side a four-goal advantage before Mehdi Taremi pulled one back for Iran. Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish both found the net to move England onto six goals before Taremi scored his second from the penalty spot. A win for Carlos Queiroz's side would move them up to second. It was now or never.
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Queiroz made five alterations to the team that lost 6-2 to England. Coming off in the previous match, goalkeeper Beyranvand was replaced by Hosseini. In the defense, the right back was also different, with Rezaeian coming in for Moharrami. In front of him on the right wing, Gholizadeh was preferred ahead of Jahanbakhsh, with Ezatolahi swapping with Karimi in the midfield. Finally, with Iran playing an extra striker instead of a center-back, Azmoun started instead of Cheshmi.
IRAN XI (4-4-2): Hossein Hosseini; Ramin Rezaeian, Morteza Pouraliganji, Majid Hosseini, Milad Mohammadi; Ali Gholizadeh, Ahmad Noorollahi, Saeid Ezatolahi, Ehsan Hajisafi; Sardar Azmoun, Mehdi Taremi.
SUBS: Alireza Beyranvand, Payam Niazmand, Amir Abedzadeh, Sadegh Moharrami, Shoja Khalilzadeh, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Karim Ansarifard, Vahid Amiri, Hossein Kanani, Saman Ghoddos, Roozbeh Cheshmi, Mehdi Torabi, Ali Karimi, Abolfazl Jalali.
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๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ท๐๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ช๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป, ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ด๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐น ๐ญ๐ต๐ณ๐ด, โ ๐ฃ๐ต๐ถ๐น ๐๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ป๐น๐ ๐ด๐ผ๐ฎ๐น ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ด๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ.
A tight first half ended with the game goalless. With both sides demanding a victory, it was Wales who had the first opportunity. Moore prodded Robertsโ cross from the right towards the goal, but his attempt was turned away by Hosseini. Four minutes later, Iran thought they had snatched the lead. Roberts passed the ball straight to Iran inside Wales' half. Playing a one-two with Azmoun, Gholizadeh ran free inside the box to strike the ball into the net. However, following a VAR assessment, the goal was ruled out for offside. Bale also had a speculative effort denied, with Azmoun nearly getting on the end of Noorollahiโs cross.
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Wales was wasteful in the attack. Putting crosses into the box from both flanks as well as free-kicks, Iran found it effortless to clear the ball away. With Moore a clear target, they needed to do more to identify him. When the Bournemouth striker was found, he held up the ball brilliantly, setting up Wilson and Bale, who both squandered chances. Like Quiet for most of the match against the US before scoring the equalizer, Bale was having a similar game tonight. With the score tied, one moment of brilliance from him might win the game for Wales. As for Iran, they undoubtedly prospered from the introduction of Azmoun. The striker was a handful for the opposing defense, creating scoring chances and unsettling the Wales defenders at every opportunity.Azmoun. The striker was a handful for the opposition defense, creating scoring chances and unsettling the Wales defense at every opportunity.
Eight of Iran's 11 World Cup goals have come in the second half of matches (73 per cent), including each of their last six in a row.
The plan was simple. Follow that stat. And Iran were doing everything for that.
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10 of Walesโ 14 goals at their last three major tournaments (the Euros and World Cup) have seen at least one of Gareth Bale or Aaron Ramsey involved as a goal scorer or assist provider. They failed to make an impact so far, with Iran dominating the second half.
Wales have faced Asian opposition seven times in their history and have only conceded once in these games, keeping six clean sheets (W5 D2). Their most recent such game was a 6-0 win against China in March 2018. The post has helped them retain their clean sheet today.
But not anymore. Today the football rose again to write another history. RED CARD! Hennessey received a red card after bundling into Taremi outside the box. The striker got there first, knocking it past Hennessey, who cleared out the forward.
Will this be a game-changing moment? ๐ด#FIFAWorldCup | #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/tJATNCZRCu
โ FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) November 25, 2022
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๐๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐น๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ด๐ผ๐ฎ๐น๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐น๐ฑ ๐๐๐ฝ, ๐ฎ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐๐๐บ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐๐ป๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐ผ๐๐๐ต ๐๐ณ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐. ๐จ๐ฟ๐๐ด๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐น๐๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ด๐น๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐๐. ๐ก๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ญ๐ต๐ต๐ฐ.
๐ท๐๐ ๐๐๐๐, ๐ธ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ด๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ (๐ณ๐ธ ๐ป๐ฝ), ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐ถ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐.
The time was indicating that stat once again. Iran's hope for the knockout was fading. Only four minutes remained in the extra time. This was it. But wait! Yes! Yes! That's football for you, my friend! GOAAALLLLLLL! WHAT A STRIKE FROM CHESHMI! 1-0 IRAN! That may be the winner! From outside the box, Cheshmi lashed the ball into the bottom corner after Allen's poked clearance rolled to his feet.
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Wait what! GOAALLLL! GAME OVER! 2-0 IRAN! One goal behind, Wales got caught on the counter. Taremi moved forward with the ball, waiting for support. Rezaeian rushed up from right back to the outskirts of the box, chipping it over Ward and into the goal.
๐ธ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฑ, ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ด๐๐๐๐๐๐.
Bale's math is fading; only his magic can save Wales now. Even magic wouldn't be enough as they have to take on England, and only a win can see them through. But there is a huge, annoying but! First, they have to accomplish something very hard, and if the result of the other match doesn't go as planned, they have to beat the Lions by four goals.
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