Iran knock Wales off their pedestal with two late goals.

Iran scored twice in stoppage time to keep their World Cup dreams alive.
The Iran team that started the tournament with a 6-2 loss to England was nearly unrecognizable.
Iran now has three points in Group B after their win, two more than Wales despite the latter’s 1-1 draw with the United States in their first game.
Iran struck twice in the eighth minute of stoppage time to beat Wales 2-0 in AL RAYYAN, giving new life to their World Cup campaign and leaving Wales on the ropes ahead of a winner-take-all match against England.

Iran produced a spectacular finish after Wales’ goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey was sent off in the 87th minute. Roozbeh Cheshmi drove home to give Iran the lead, and Ramin Rezaeian added another in the 11th minute of stoppage time.

Iran, who were in danger of elimination if they lost, looked practically unrecognizable from the team who fell 6-2 to England in their opening match, and they were deserving winners despite their tardy victory.

After Hennessey was sent off for a horrendous head-high challenge on Mehdi Taremi, Carlos Queiroz’s side twice hit the post in the second half at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.

Iran now leads Group B with three points after beating Wales, who tied the United States 1-1 in their opening match. England and the United States will play each other later on Friday.

This cluster reaches its climax the following Tuesday, when Wales plays their long-time rivals and Iran plays the United States.

The second half of the game, after a very dull first half, was much more exciting.

At the start of the second half, the most unbelievable treble miss occurred when Sardar Azmoun ran through but hit the post, Ali Gholizadeh curled the rebound off the post, and Azmoun headed the next rebound straight at Wales goalkeeper Hennessey.

Then, in the 70th minute, Hennessey came to Wales’ rescue once more, deflecting a low attempt from Saeid Ezatolahi around the post with his fingertips before being sent off and setting up a tense last few minutes.

After making a mad dash out of his own goal, Hennessey saw Taremi beat him to the ball and, in retaliation, the goalie drove his knee straight into Taremi’s face.

The referee showed a yellow card at first, but he or she quickly went to the video assistant referee monitor, and the subsequent red card seemed likely.

Afterwards, the goals came incredibly late, with Cheshmi slamming home a thunderbolt of a strike to deliver a gut punch to Wales and Rezaeian lifting the ball gently over the keeper to seal the deal for Rob Page’s side.