Rozbeh Cheshmi and Ramin Rezaeian scored two late goals against Wales in Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al-Rayyan, Doha to ensure Team Melli grab all three points in an exciting and dynamic match.

The 2-0 win puts Iran in the second position in Group B on goal difference behind group leader England. The USA is third and will be meeting the leaders later this evening.

Team Melli had five changes from the previous match with Azmoun making the starting lineup and Jahanbakhsh benched. Gholizadeh also made the start-up. The match was balanced in the early stages but slowly Team Melli managed to take a grip on the match.  However, efforts by Azmoun and Taremi did not yield any results. Ali Gholizadeh scored a goal from a nice assist by Azmoun but he was deemed offside.

The first half ended goalless

In the second half, Iran was much the better team and threatened Wales consistently. The poor finishing and the slow transition from defense to attack marred Team Melli’s performance. Azmoun shot against the post and seconds later Gholizadeh curled a beauty into the far corner of Hennessy but that ball also hit the upright.

In the dying minutes of the match, Taremi was released from a long ball. He beat the offside trap and was one-to-one with Hennessey, The Welsh keeper came all the way outside the box to cut the ball. He fouled Taremi in the process and also denied him a goal-scoring opportunity, a clear red card case. However,  to the shock of the Iranians, the referee opted for a yellow card to the Welsh Keeper. Moments later, the referee was invited to look at the situation by VAR referees. The review resulted in the rightful decision of sending Henessy off.

Dying minutes of the added time. Rozbeh Cheshnmo lathed at a loose ball from outside the box to score from a low powerful shot right into the corner of Welsh goal. 1-0 to Iran. The Welsh then went on an all-out attack leaving their backlight. two minutes later, a counterattack and a beautiful pass by Taremi ended up with Rezaeian chipping the Welsh keeper to make it 20-0.

Iran deserved this valuable win against the 10-man Wales and needs a similar result to assure qualification to the next round.