Belgium and Iran forced to settle for scoreless draw in Group G World Cup game

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INGLEWOOD - It didn’t take long for the Iranian soccer team supporters, who seemed to make up a large majority of the crowd, to erupt in cheers Sunday.

In the 25th minute, Mehdi Taremi scored off Ehsan Hajsafi’s free kick through the wall for an apparent 1-0 lead. However, after video review, the goal was disallowed.

That celebration was subdued until another flashpoint in the 67th minute. Belgium’s Nathan Ngoy was sent off with a red card, giving Iran a man advantage and another opportunity to steal the win and three points.

Ngoy lost possession near midfield and then tackled Iranian forward Mehdi Taremi and was sent off for denying a goal-scoring opportunity.

Unfortunately for Iran, it was unable to recapture its goal-scoring momentum and settled for a scoreless draw in front of 70,317.

Belgium finished with an xG of 1.82, 70 percent possession and seven shots on goal. Another stat that showed the gap between the teams: Belgium had 534 connected passes to just 198 for Iran.

“I think they could have won, I think we could have won,” Iranian coach Amir Ghalenoei said. “We had the opportunity to win, but I think this is a great achievement. We have two games without losing in the World Cup, with the conditions that we have. This is a great achievement.

“Belgium is a great team. They are ranked 10 (in the FIFA rankings), they have great players and a great manager.”

Both teams move to two points in the Group G standings with New Zealand and Egypt meeting in Canada later this evening. All four teams will be alive to advance in the final group stage games.

The goalkeepers, Thibaut Courtois (Belgium) and Alireza Beiranvand, did their jobs. Courtois was credited with three saves. Beiranvand, who was in a violent collision with Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku in the third minute, made seven. Beiranvand was selected Man of the Match.

As expected, Belgium dominated possession, leaving Beiranvand to survive several goal chances. One of his best came in the 58th minute as he made a left-hand save on a point-blank shot from Maxim De Cuyper, while sprawling on the ground to keep the game scoreless.

The Red Devils attack went into the game lacking an important piece, with forward Jérémy Doku missing the game due to illness. Lukaku was inserted into the starting lineup. Lukaku missed all but five games during the club season with Napoli due to a thigh injury. Lukaku had a substitute role in Belgium’s opening 1-1 draw against Egypt. Lukaku finished with just 24 touches and no shots.

“We could have won, but we weren’t efficient enough,” Belgium coach Rudi Garcia said. “We had many attempts, playing 30 minutes down a man is very difficult in a World Cup.

“We got ahead of ourselves. We were wasteful, we lacked efficiency. We did talk about verticality. We could have done better, spacing ourselves out. We had 25 attempts, 70 percent possession, we dominated. We expected to dominate …we could have done better. We were a little naive in some situations.”

All four teams in the group entered the second round of games on one point. New Zealand and Iran played to a 2-2 draw Thursday.

The final group stage game is set for Friday with Iran facing Egypt in Seattle and New Zealand taking on Belgium in Canada.

“We need to show that we’re capable of beating New Zealand,” Garcia said.

For their second consecutive game, Iran had to deal with their travel restrictions. The team didn’t arrive in Los Angeles until Saturday for the Sunday afternoon game. Thursday, the Iranian Federation filed a complaint against FIFA.

In a statement, the federation called their travel restrictions “inconsistent with the principle of providing equal conditions for all participating teams and may negatively affect teams' preparation processes.”

The statement continued: "Consequently, the federation will formally express its dissatisfaction and lodge an official complaint with FIFA through the appropriate channels. Despite these limitations, Iran's national team will continue its preparation programme and remain fully focused on its upcoming match against Belgium."

Iran will conclude its Group G schedule Friday in Seattle. Saturday, Ghalenoei said he was “optimistic” that FIFA would convince the U.S. government to ease its travel timing restrictions, with Iran having to travel further than from Mexico to Los Angeles.

As for Sunday, Iran was due to depart L.A. right after the match, returning to Mexico.

“I don’t think any team could have sustained with such conditions and played like this,” Ghalenoei said. “The conditions have been hard …the players have been playing with their hearts.”

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This story was originally published June 21, 2026 at 2:40 PM.