November 30, (THEWILL) – At the Al Thumama Stadium on Tuesday, geopolitics was temporarily off the front burners as the United States defeated Iran 1-0 to advance to the round of 16 with Christian Pulisic scoring the winner.
Due to the long-standing political tension between the two nations and the ongoing civil upheaval in Iran, discussions almost exclusively outside of football dominated the lead-up to Tuesday’s Group B match.
Nevertheless, the superiority of the USMNT became evident after the game had settled and the expectedly exciting tie got underway. Indeed, Iran was fortunate to trail by just Pulisic’s goal at halftime after Timothy Weah had a goal of his disallowed for offside.
After the break, Carlos Queiroz’s team did at least manage a shot, but the USA had enough to hold on for a narrow but well-deserved victory, setting up a matchup with Group A champions the Netherlands in the round of 16.
For Iran, the tournament has ended and they will not be moving on to the next round of the World Cup for the sixth time.
