Iran holds Belgium to 0-0 draw as World Cup group tightens

Alireza Beiranvand’s seven saves and a second-half red card for Belgium defender Nathan Ngoy turned a tense, scoreless match into a result that felt far larger than one point. Iran’s 0-0 draw with Belgium at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Sunday gave the Iranian side a foothold in Group G and a rare lift for a squad carrying heavy pressure on and off the field.

Belgium entered the match as the favorite, but its attack never found a finish and the draw extended its World Cup scoring drought. Iran, by contrast, played with urgency and discipline, with Beiranvand repeatedly holding the line as Belgium probed for a breakthrough. His clean sheet mattered not only because of the volume of pressure, but because it came in a game that had already tilted on fine margins.

Those margins tightened further when Mehdi Taremi put the ball in the net only to see the goal erased for offside after a VAR review. The ruling denied Iran what would have been a breakthrough, but it also showed how close Amir Ghalenoei’s side came to turning a defensive stand into a statement win. Belgium’s numerical disadvantage after Ngoy’s dismissal in the second half added to the sense that the match had slipped beyond its control.

The point was Iran’s second of the tournament, after an opening draw with New Zealand, and it briefly pushed Iran to the top of Group G before later matches changed the table. For Iran, the result had significance beyond the standings. Ghalenoei had publicly criticized difficult U.S. travel and visa conditions before kickoff, and FIFA said it was working to maximize opportunities for Iranian supporters after the team’s ticket allocation was withdrawn. In Los Angeles’s Tehrangeles area, where the Iranian community followed the match closely, the draw carried the weight of something bigger than sport.

Iran did not win, but it earned a result built on concentration, goalkeeping and resilience. In a group that remained open, Beiranvand’s performance and Taremi’s disallowed goal made the draw one of the tournament’s early reference points, and a reminder that Iran still had a path forward.