The presenters celebrated Algeria's goal by stating that "Allah is rewarding us" and that "Muslims save other Muslims," but a last-minute equalizer from Austria changed the outcome and left Iran out of the World Cup
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The elimination of Iran from the World Cup left one of the most viral images of the tournament. The Iranian state television went from celebrating the qualification of its team with enthusiasm to complete silence just a few seconds later, when a goal from Austria completely changed the outcome of the group.
During stoppage time of the match between Algeria and Austria, Riyad Mahrez scored the 3-2 for the Algerian team. That result temporarily qualified Iran as one of the best third-placed teams in the group stage, which led the presenters in the state television studio to react with a religious celebration. As heard in the broadcast, they stated: "Allah is rewarding us" and "Muslims save other Muslims".
The presenters reacting to Algeria's goal
However, the euphoria lasted very little. In the last action of the match, Austria managed to equalize 3-3 thanks to a goal from Sasa Kalajdzic, a result that allowed both Austria and Algeria to qualify and eliminated the Iranian team. The images show how the studio went from hugs and celebrations to an atmosphere of surprise and silence in a matter of seconds.
The video quickly went viral on social media and was reproduced by numerous international media as one of the most striking moments of the conclusion of the group stage of the World Cup.
The elimination was also marked by the political context surrounding Iranian football. Rashid Mazaheri, an Iranian goalkeeper who has openly criticized the Iranian regime since 2021, with participation in protests that cost him his local football career.
The former Iranian goalkeeper Rashid Mazaheri
The former national team goalkeeper could not be part of the team after being imprisoned by the regime for publishing critical messages against then-supreme leader Ali Khamenei. His wife reported that he was detained for his political opinions, while the authorities claim he was arrested for attempting to leave the country illegally.
Iran ended its participation with three draws in the group stage and was eliminated by a narrow margin in the ranking of the best third-placed teams, after depending on the results of other matches to advance to the next round.
