Rouzbeh Cheshmi and Ramin Rezaeian bagged a couple of goals deep into stoppage time as Iran walked away with a 2-0 victory over Wales in Group B of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The result – only a third win for Iran in the history of the competition – saw Iran bounce back from a first-day debacle against England in style and stay well in contention for a historic place in the last-16 round.
Iran head coach Carlos Queiroz made five changes to the side that started the group opener, with Seyyed Hossein Hosseini, who replaced Alireza Beiranvand midway through the first half against England, named between the posts. Rezaeian, Ali Qolizadeh, Sardar Azmoun, and Saeed Ezzatollahi also walked out of the tunnel for the kickoff as Cheshmi, Sadeq Moharrami, Ali Karimi, and Alireza Jahanbakhsh were benched for the encounter against Gareth Bale and co.
Iran manager also made a U-turn on his ill-fated 5-4-1 formation in the first game, fielding a regular back four with three men in the middle of the pitch, with Mehdi Taremi and Qolizadeh playing alongside lone striker Azmoun up front. Perhaps the most significant change for Iran came in the attitude and approach as Queiroz’s men, who knew anything other than maximum points would have all but finished their quest for progress, started right on the front foot.
Iranians thought they were rewarded for the brave performance after 15 minutes, when Qolizadeh tapped in from close range, only to see his goal chalked off for offside after a VAR review.
Kieffer Moore went close on the other side of the pitch minutes later but Iranian keeper Hosseini stood firm to keep out Welshman’s effort from the edge of the six-yard box. Unlucky to take the lead before the break, a revitalized Iran side started the second half where it left off before the interval and came within inches of breaking the deadlock in the 52nd minute when Azmoun and Qolizadeh were denied by the woodwork in the space of a few seconds.
Ezzatollahi swept a low drive toward the far corner in the 73rd minute but Welsh goalie Wayne Hennessey did a great job to fingertip it round the post.
A VAR interruption sparked a late drama to the game as Hennessey received his marching orders for a foul on Taremi outside the box with four minutes from normal time, having initially been shown a yellow card by Guatemalan referee Mario Escobar.

Iranian players relentlessly pushed for a late winner and their efforts paid dividends right at the death.
Substitute Cheshmi unleashed a sizzling effort from 20 yards out which nestled in the bottom-right corner in the eighth minute of added time, sending the Iranian camp and supporters into a frenzy at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.
That was not the end of the fairytale for Iran as Rezaeian finished off a counterattack with a sublime lob over substitute keeper Danny Ward to secure the points for Iran, which kept a clean sheet in the World Cup finals for only a third time in six participations. Next for Queiroz and his men will be a battle against USA on Tuesday, November 29 – the 25th anniversary of the memorable aggregate victory over Australia which saw Iran qualify for the 1998 World Cup in France.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Friday “strongly condemned” a resolution by the United Nations Human Rights Council to probe the Islamic Republic’s response to protests and subsequent rioting sparked by  the death of a young woman in mid-September.
Iran “completely rejects” the resolution passed at the urgent session on Thursday requested by Germany and Iceland during which the 47-member council backed establishing a fact-finding mission in Geneva with 25 voted in favor, 16 abstained and six countries – Armenia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Pakistan and Venezuela – opposed.
Voicing regret for the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, the Foreign Ministry said Iran had already formed a national commission of inquiry involving “law experts and independent representatives”.
“The formation of any new mechanism to examine the incidents over the past two months in Iran is useless and represents a violation of the country’s national sovereignty,” it said in a statement.
“Iran considers the formation of any new mechanism to investigate the issues of the past two months in Iran as unnecessary and a violation of the country’s national sovereignty,” the statement said.
The Foreign Ministry noted that Tehran “does not recognize the assigned mission” as the special meeting was “inconsistent, unusual and unnecessary”.
It said the resolution was adopted based on misinformation provided by “a small number of Western countries to advance anti-Iran objectives at international circles”.
The ministry warned that Germany and some other Western governments “made a strategic mistake” which “will be to the detriment of their interests”.
 

The resolution was made “under the pressure of certain political lobbies as well as news fabrication by some known anti-Iran media outlets”.
It added that such “opportunistic approaches” will “sacrifice” human rights “for the political and hostile goals pursued by some countries against other members of the global community”.
Speaking at Geneva meeting, Iran’s Deputy Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Khadijeh Karimi condemned “some Western states” for stoking acts of violence in the country, and called their misuse of human rights “disgraceful”.
Karimi then pointed to hatemongering efforts and spreading false rumors with the goal of fomenting violence by anti-Iran TV channels based in the UK and the US, adding, “West’s interventions led to the killing and injuring of hundreds of Iranian police and security forces as well as destruction of thousands of public and private properties.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani had said earlier that the Islamic Republic considers the measures taken by a number of countries, including Germany, with regard to human rights as politically motivated.

 

Iranian musician, orchestra leader and pianist, Mohammadreza Ajdari, won nomination in the Instrumental Section of the 13th Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA).
Ajdari has been a semi-finalist, making a striking show at the event with his instrumental track ‘Nil’.
Ajdari is competing with Alex Kovacs, Cynthia Thijs Coenraad, David Lanz and Kristin Amarie, Edu Vico, Girlie Vasallo, Kilian Alos, Nathalie Bonin, Roman Miroshnichenko, and Tomas Videla.
The HMMA is an award organization honoring original music (song and score) in all forms of visual media, including film, TV, video games, trailers, commercial advertisements, documentaries, music videos, and special programs.
The HMMA’s main event features live music performances, celebrity presenters, tributes to music industry icons, awards for composers, songwriters and artists. The HMMA also celebrates emerging, independent artists and music influencers from around the globe for creative and innovative contributions.

Last year, Ajdari ranked 15th in the 2021 edition of the Film Music Contest (FMC) for his composition titled ‘Dance of the Rain’ from the ‘Miracle of Love’ album.
Ajdari, who was born in 1989 in Tehran, started music in 1997. He made his first song in 2004, called ‘Your Voice’. In 2014, he registered his orchestra under the name of ‘Padramad’ in the music office of ‘Vahdat Hall’.
In 2018, he founded his music academy called ‘Tanin Honar’; he published his first non-verbal music album called ‘Miracle of Love’ with the official permission of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, and a book called ‘Miracle of Love for Piano’.