The 17th match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup saw the tournament’s first red-card as Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey was sent off in the Group B clash against Iran at the Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan on Tuesday (November 25).
In the 86th minute of the clash after spotting Iran striker Mahdi Taremi free on goal, Hennessey charged outside the goalkeeping box to challenge the Iranian striker. However, his effort went wrong as he ended up fouling the FC Porto star to widespread protests from Iran players.
While the referee initially gave a yellow card, he changed his mind after seeing the replays of the VAR screens and gave Hennessey the marching orders. Leicester City’s shot-stopper Danny Ward took over goalkeeping duties.
Iran made the most of the extra man advantage as they sealed a memorable win with two goals in the 98th and 101st minute in an incredible finish to the game.Roozbeh Cheshmi and Rezaeian scored the twin goals for the Iranians which will remembered for a long long time.
Apart from Iran hitting the post twice at the start of the second half, there was not much to talk about in the game before the game-changing red-card for Hennessay but Iran were the more threatening team from the start of the game and the result was clearly a deserved one.
This defeat put Wales’ hopes of making it to the semi-finals in major doubt as they have just one win from two games now having drawn their tournament opener 1-1 to USA. Iran had faced an embarrassing 6-2 defeat to England in their opener but have bounced back strongly and a win against the Americans in their last game should be enough to seal their place in the knockouts.
Iran’s memorable win has helped continue a brilliant tournament for Asian sides in which Saudi Arabia and Japan beat Argentina and Japan
