The United States defeated Iran just enough in a tense match and qualified for the round of 16

United States of America blow Iran from 1 to 0 with goals by Christian Pulisic and, on his return to the World Cup, made a top 16 finish by Qatar 2022waiting for the Netherlands.

The match was tense compared to the previous one. Is that, beyond the political history between the two countries, both Gregg Berhalter’s team and that of Carlos Queiroz decided their future in the tournament in this duel.

The nerves prevented the ball from flowing between the feet of the twenty-two protagonists. Some, the North Americans, needed, wanted, but couldn’t; and the others, the descendants of the Persians, raised a scenario of speculation because the tie ranked them.

Of course, the two had an ear on what was going on with England. Although logic dictated that Gareth Southgate’s men would beat Wales, a win by Gareth Bale and company would change that.

It was necessary to wait until nine minutes into the first half for the goalkeepers to experience some tension and not be luxury spectators. Yunus Musah, one of the youngest players in the youngest squad at the World Cup, shot wide and Alireza Beiranvand breathed a sigh of relief.

A minute later, 10-year-old Pulisic, figure and US drive, headed in a cross from the right and Beiranvand had to go down to avoid a 0-1 draw.

Even though both were coming off strong performances against Wales and England, the legs at Al Thumama Stadium seemed to be weighing a little more. No other match has been as decisive for both in the league as this one.

Timothy Weah had his chance as USA goaltender Matt Turner had just made contact with the ball. It was already the third warning. Those in blue were driven by their ambition and need.

With seven minutes remaining in the first half, Sergiño Dest weighed his imbalance on the right and fired in a precise cross that landed between the six yards and the penalty spot. There, the Chelsea player respected those who expected answers in football from him and pushed her on goal. When he went down, the collision with the Iranian goalkeeper, as well as sealing the result, also began to seal the end of the game for the talented midfielder.

It’s just that he ended up injured and now they’re lighting candles for him to arrive safely at the clash with Holland.

The second half, as expected, was a mirror. The United States was the one who took refuge a little more and waited to come out against them. The Iranians had to come out in search of equality, but their only recourse was crosses from both sides.

The United States learned perfectly the chapter on how to defend itself against these attempts and resisted without suffering too many shocks.

Saman Ghoddos, who came on in the second half, was the closest but hadn’t had Mehdi Taremi’s aim in previous games.

Only with ten minutes to go for the 90 minutes to go and during the many more that the Spanish referee added, Iran cornered the United States. A play in which they claimed a penalty that was not there and was not taken and a header that went very close to Morteza Pouraliganji were the two situations in which the stars and stripes fortress trembled.

After a hundred minutes the game was over and the Iranians collapsed in sadness and frustration. The Americans, before embracing each other, did the same, but exhausted and satisfied with the goal achieved.

Against the orange they will now try to match the performance of Korea-Japan 2002, the other World Cup that Asia won and they are as close to the dream of reaching the semifinals as they were in 1930, 92 years ago. All this, with the products of a championship that is just over 25 years old.

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