VAR denies Iran's Taremi goal against Belgium at World Cup 2026

Mehdi Taremi thought he had given Iran the lead against Belgium after a sharp collective move ended with the 33-year-old finishing past Thibaut Courtois at Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood, California. VAR stepped in, checked the move, and ruled the goal out for offside, leaving Iran with a breakthrough that never reached the scoreboard.

The sequence mattered because it came in Iran’s second match of Group G at the 2026 World Cup, after the team’s opener against New Zealand and before a final group game against Egypt. Iran had arrived with Amir Ghalenoei trying to clean up the defensive mistakes that hurt the side in its first game, and the disallowed goal showed how fine the margins were at this level: one run, one finish, one review, and a lead disappeared.

Taremi, who plays for Olympiacos, remains one of Iran’s central attacking figures alongside Alireza Jahanbakhsh, and the move underlined why. Iran worked the ball well enough to expose Belgium’s back line, and Taremi’s finish beat Courtois cleanly enough to trigger celebration. But the offside decision stopped the momentum cold. The image of Courtois, unable to stop the shot before the flag and review wiped it away, quickly became the defining visual of the moment.

For Belgium, the incident also fit the weight of its World Cup status. FIFA described the Red Devils as a team taking part in a fourth consecutive World Cup, while Iran came into the tournament on a run stretching back to South Africa 2010. That contrast gave the call added bite: one side accustomed to the pressure of repeated appearances, the other still trying to steady itself after a shaky opening and find a foothold against elite opposition.

The ruling captured how VAR has changed the emotional rhythm of the World Cup. A goal no longer ends the story the instant the ball crosses the line. Players now hold their celebrations, coaches wait for the check, and risk in the final third carries a new kind of delay, with every aggressive run exposed to a review that can undo the reward in seconds. In Inglewood, Taremi’s effort showed both sides of that reality: the promise of a well-built attack, and the harsh precision of modern offside law.