Iran's coach and players put their stunning World Cup turnaround on Friday down to winning their own mental battles, amid growing public pressure on them to make a stand over a deadly crackdown on protests against their country's clerical rulers.
Iran were headed for a goalless draw against Wales in Al Rayyan on Saturday (NZ time) but scored twice deep in stoppage time to seal a last-gasp victory and keep alive their hopes of reaching the World Cup second round for the first time ever.
The preparations of Team Melli, a huge source of national pride, have been disrupted by a crisis back home following the death in police custody of a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman in September. Her death sparked protests that have grown to represent the boldest challenge to the legitimacy of Iran's clerical elite since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
"We talk about the players, their goals. I don't have words to congratulate my players, they were brilliant," coach Carlos Queiroz told a news conference.
"We played with amazing, amazing character, which is the profile of our team usually. We always play with a sense of unity, cohesion, always. Today we made it very clear football is a game of different moments."
Iran were thrashed 6-2 in their opening Group B match against England on Monday, after which Queiroz vented fury over what he called harassment and political pressure on his team, who have faced criticism at home for not speaking out strongly over the deaths of protesters.
Many Iranians had hoped the team would use their high profile and the World Cup as a platform to show their solidarity. On Monday, they declined to sing their national anthem in an apparent show of support, but on Friday, they sang quietly as it was played at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, where boos and jeers were heard from Iranian supporters.
Roozbeh Cheshmi broke the deadlock in the 98th minute and Ramin Rezaeian scored in the 101st against a 10-man Welsh squad, which lost goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey to a red card in the 86th minute.
Hennessey initially drew a yellow card after his high challenge against Mehdi Taremi, but the referee showed him the red card after a VAR check.
With three points going into Tuesday's game against the United States, Iran has a shot at advancing to the World Cup knockout stages for the first time.
Meanwhile, the World Cup hopes of Qatar were left hanging by a thread, after a 3-1 loss to Senegal that leaves them bottom of Group A and facing elimination just five days after they opened the tournament with a 2-0 loss to Ecuador.
If Ecuador fail to beat Netherlands later on Friday the Qataris will be the first side mathematically eliminated from a finals they have spent a reported US$200 billion to host.
Qatar showed some flashes of exciting attacking play, but the reigning Asian champions were undone by sloppy defending that was harshly punished by a Senegalese side that was just that little bit better in every department.
The Senegal fans brought colour and noise with rhythmic drumming throughout, while the home supporters turned out in maroon shirts, with many of the men opting for the traditional Middle Eastern thobe, a pristine white ankle-length tunic.
Qatar's opening-night nerves were nowhere to be seen as they quickly got to grips with Senegal and should have had a penalty when Ismaila Sarr bundled over Akram Afif, but Spanish referee Antonio Mateu waved away their pleas and VAR did not intervene.
With Qatar defending well, it was going to take either a moment of magic or a catastrophic mistake for Senegal to break the deadlock and unfortunately for Qatar defender Boualem Khoukhi it turned out to be the latter.
His attempt to clear a routine low pass into the box by Krepin Diatta went disastrously wrong as he fluffed his clearance, allowing Boulaye Dia to pounce, and he rattled home the opening goal just before the break.
With the Qatari crowd thinned out somewhat at the start of the second half, Famara Diedhou doubled Senegal's advantage with a brilliant glancing header from an Ismail Jakobs corner in the 48th minute.
Reuters.
