Ninety plus ... toe!
The tiny distance between ecstasy and agony.
I love football. But this tournament was definitely too bloated.
Matchday 3 of the group stage definitively lacked the scale of jeopardy that previous 32 team editions had when only 2 teams would progress from each group of 4. However, the exception that proves the rule was the astonishing tale that centred on Iran’s attempts to escape Group G. With a pair of draws on the board, Iran knew that a victory in their final group game against Egypt would guarantee progression. A third consecutive draw, which by default would mean a goal difference of 0, would put them in contention to be a best third place finisher.
After an early exchange of goals, the game was still locked at 1-1 when it entered injury time at the end of the second half. An Iran free-kick caused chaos in the Egyptian penalty area and, after a bit of pinball, it broke to Shoja Khalilzadeh who gleefully lashed it into the net. Incredible scenes followed as Iran believed they had made history. VAR thought different. Whether it is offside by a couple of centimetres or many metres, the outcome is the same.
A third draw meant Iran were not eliminated when the full-time whistle blew. They entered third place purgatory as they awaited results from elsewhere. They were left waiting on Algeria vs. Austria - and all they needed was a decisive result.
Imagine how they felt on 90+3 vs. 90+6:
We are now into phase 2 of the ‘big’ World Cup. The mammoth phase 1 group stage has concluded and 48 teams became 32. The knockout stage has already gotten off to a flier with co-hosts Canada doing this in the 92nd minute:
And Brazil have just had a ‘Canada. Hold my beer’ moment:
I love football. But this tournament was definitely too bloated.