IRAN RAGGED
Page boys run out of steam and dreams
AFTER the ecstasy of reaching their first World Cup in 64 years, came the agony for Wales.
Their ageing history boys were expected to bury Iran to move to within touching distance of qualification from Group B, having scrambled a fortunate late draw against USA in their opener.
Much of the talk pre-match from Wales’ players was of how many goals they would score, not whether they would win.
But their World Cup dream turned into a nightmare at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium as they crashed to a deserved defeat.
With star duo Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey ineffective in the heat, Wales were always hanging on.
Carlos Queiroz’s side had a goal narrowly ruled out for offside by VAR in the first half and then hit a post twice in the second half.
But eventually they prevailed in stoppage time in a breathless, dramatic finale after Wales were reduced to 10 men for Wayne Hennessey’s dismissal for serious foul play in an X-rated challenge.
Wales were then brutally exposed by Iran, who cast aside the humiliation of their opening 6-2 loss to England.
Rouzbeh Cheshmi lashed in a shot clocked at 40mph from outside the box which sparked a mini-pitch invasion by Iran’s players and staff in stoppage time.
Ramin Rezaeian lofted in another to seal victory as some of the Red Wall of Wales supporters were left in tears with their side on only a point and staring at an early exit.
Not even the promotion of Kieffer Moore into the starting line-up helped Rob Page’s men much after the 6ft 5in forward changed the game against USA on Monday night.
Both nations made their intention clear in an open start to the game, targeting a win to boost their qualification hopes.
Wales nearly made an early breakthrough but keeper Hossein Hosseini did well to deny Moore’s volley from Connor Roberts’ cross in the 12th minute.
Roberts’ loose pass was then intercepted and Sardar Azmoun played in Ali Gholizadeh who tapped in from close range. Fortunately for Wales, and Roberts especially, Gholizadeh was ruled offside by VAR in the 16th minute.
It did not disguise the fact that Wales simply weren’t good enough in the first half as they failed to create many openings.
Iran continued to be the better side after the restart as Azmoun ran clear before smashing against a post with an angled right-foot shot in the 50th minute. Then Gholizadeh curled a left-foot shot against the other post from 25 yards in the same phase of play.
It was enough to spur Page (above) into action as he made a double substitution and switched to a flat back four.
Yet despite the changes, the Dragons continued to hang on. They committed men forward but it left them exposed as Saeid Ezatolahi tested Hennessey with a low shot from outside the box that the keeper did well to tip around a post.
But Hennessey was ordered off four minutes from time for poleaxing Mehdi Taremi with a misjudged kick outside his area when the striker was clean through.
It gave Iran the impetus they needed to go on and deservedly win with a magnificent strike from sub Cheshmi who curled a low right-foot shot into the bottom corner from outside the box after sub Joe Allen’s clearance went straight to him.
Wales’ players sank to the floor in pain and they hit rock bottom when Rezaeian got the ball from Taremi and dinked over sub keeper Danny Ward to leave their campaign in tatters.