Egypt secured their place in the round of 32 of the World Cup, after clinching second place in Group G following a dramatic 1-1 draw with their Iranian counterparts on Saturday.
The cancellation of Iran's second goal in stoppage time sparked widespread controversy.
Shoja Khalilzadeh shook the Egyptian net from close range, putting Iran ahead 2-1, a victory that would have secured their qualification for the round of 32.
But the Video Assistant Referee intervened to cancel the goal due to Khalilzadeh being offside, and the match ended in a draw.
The cancellation of Khalilzadeh's last-minute goal may seem perplexing at first glance, especially since it would have secured Iran a place in the knockout stages.
The law states that a player is in an offside position if he is closer to the goal line than the last two players of the opposing team.
Normally, the goalkeeper is behind the last player in the defensive line, but in the case of Shoja Khalilzadeh's disallowed goal, this did not happen.
Khalilzadeh received the ball after his teammate Mohammad Ghorbani's shot rebounded off Egyptian goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir. In order for the goal to be counted, Khalilzadeh had to be in a legal position at the moment Ghorbani shot the ball, not when he received it.
As the video referee (VAR) footage shows, at that exact moment, Mahmoud Hassan "Trezeguet" was the closest Egyptian player to the goal line, which means that the last Egyptian defender was Hamza Abdel Karim, given that goalkeeper Shobeir had left his goal and advanced far beyond the last two defenders.
Therefore, there was only one Egyptian player between Khalilzadeh and the goal line, which puts him in an offside position.
In this case, the video referee reviewed Khalilzadeh's position relative to Hamza Abdelkarim and not Mahmoud Trezeguet, and it was found that the Iranian player was slightly ahead of the Egyptian player, which makes the decision to cancel the goal correct and justified according to the laws of the game.
Had the goal been allowed, the Iranian national team would have secured direct qualification to the round of 32, but now they face the specter of early exit from the tournament.
Iran is currently engaged in a fierce struggle to secure one of the best third-place spots in the World Cup, as it currently occupies sixth place in the hypothetical ranking table for third-place teams, which means it is within the safe zone so far.
