Shoja Khalilzadeh took off his shirt and put on sunglasses after scoring a 93rd-minute goal. This is the same player who previously said at a pro-government nighttime gathering that he would dedicate his goal to “his Leader” and that he was proud of “his martyred Leader.”

He was referring to Ali Khamenei, a man who, for nearly half a century, has borne responsibility for a large share of the suffering and tragedy inflicted on millions of people.

So here’s the question: Do athletes only claim they’re “unable to take sides” and “not political” when it comes to standing with the people? Or are they also accountable when they become mouthpieces for the regime and publicly support those responsible for repression and violence?

FT: Egypt 1 - 1 Iran

Desktop note: best viewed on old.reddit.

Info	Details
Competition	2026 FIFA World Cup, Group Stage
Date	Fri, June 26, 2026
Venue	Lumen Field, Seattle, Washington, USA
Referee	Szymon Marciniak
Kickoff	11:00 PM EDT / 5:00 AM CEST
Status	FT

LINE-UPS

Egypt (4-2-3-1)

Starting XI	Notes	Subs	Notes
Mostafa Shoubir		Hamza Abdelkarim	🔄 on 76'
Mohamed Abdelmoneim	🔄 off 14'	Omar Marmoush	🔄 on 45'
Ramy Rabia		Karim Hafez
Ahmed Fatouh		Nabil Donga
Mohamed Hany		Mahdy Soliman
Mohamed Salah	🔄 off 57'	Mohamed El Shenawy
Mahmoud Saber	⚽ 5' · 🟨 20' · 🔄 off 45'	Tarek Alaa
Mohanad Lashin	🟨 90'+2'	Marawan Attia	🔄 on 45'
Mostafa Zico	🔄 off 76'	Zizo	🔄 on 57'
Trézéguet		Mohamed Alaa
Emam Ashour	🔄 off 45'	Ibrahim Adel
		Haissem Hassan
		Yasser Ibrahim	🔄 on 14' · 🟨 42'

Iran (5-4-1)

Starting XI	Notes	Subs	Notes
Alireza Beiranvand		Amirmohammad Razzaghinia
Shoja Khalilzadeh	🟨 90'+4'	Saleh Hardani	🔄 on 45'
Ali Nemati	🟨 43'	Mehdi Ghayedi
Hossein Kanani	🟨 19' · 🔄 off 45'	Hossein Hosseini
Milad Mohammadi		Ali Alipour
Ramin Rezaeian	⚽ 14'	Payam Niazmand
Saeid Ezatolahi	🟨 79'	Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh
Mohammad Ghorbani		Mehdi Torabi
Mohammad Mohebbi	🔄 off 90'+1'	Alireza Jahanbakhsh	🔄 on 90'+1'
Saman Ghoddos	🔄 off 67'	Roozbeh Cheshmi
Mehdi Taremi		Danial Iri
		Dennis Dargahi
		Ehsan Hajsafi
		Arya Yousefi
		Shahriyar Moghanloo	🔄 on 67'

MATCH EVENTS | via ESPN

5' ⚽ Goal! Egypt 1, IR Iran 0. Mahmoud Saber (Egypt) left footed shot from the left side of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Trezeguet.

14' ⚽ Goal! Egypt 1, IR Iran 1. Ramin Rezaeian (IR Iran) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box to the bottom right corner.

14' 🔄 Substitution, Egypt. Yasser Ibrahim replaces Mohamed Abdelmonem because of an injury.

19' 🟨 Hossein Kanani (IR Iran) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

20' 🟨 Mahmoud Saber (Egypt) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

42' 🟨 Yasser Ibrahim (Egypt) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

43' 🟨 Ali Nemati (IR Iran) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

45' 🔄 Substitution, IR Iran. Saleh Hardani replaces Hossein Kanani.

45' 🔄 Substitution, Egypt. Marwan Attia replaces Mahmoud Saber.

45' 🔄 Substitution, Egypt. Omar Marmoush replaces Emam Ashour.

57' 🔄 Substitution, Egypt. Zizo replaces Mohamed Salah.

67' 🔄 Substitution, IR Iran. Shahriyar Moghanloo replaces Saman Ghoddos.

76' 🔄 Substitution, Egypt. Hamza Abdelkarim replaces Mostafa Zico.

79' 🟨 Saeid Ezatolahi (IR Iran) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

90'+1' 🔄 Substitution, IR Iran. Alireza Jahanbakhsh replaces Mohammad Mohebbi.

90'+2' 🟨 Mohanad Lasheen (Egypt) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

90'+4' 🟨 Shoja Khalilzadeh (IR Iran) is shown the yellow card for excessive celebration.

MATCH STATS

Stat	Egypt	Iran
Expected Goals	0.81	1.83
Possession	61%	39%
Shots on Goal	3 (20%)	4 (33%)
Big Chances Created	0	1
Big Chances Missed	0	2
Accurate Passes	512 (87%)	281 (77%)
Duels Won	61	70
Saves	3	2
Fouls Committed	11	16

GROUP G

#	Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Belgium	3	1	2	0	6	2	+4	5
2	Egypt	2	1	1	0	4	2	+2	4
3	Iran	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2
4	New Zealand	3	0	1	2	4	10	-6	1

MATCH ENDED

u/SecularPersian

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Group G final standings

Post Match Thread: Egypt 1 - 1 Iran | FIFA World Cup 2026 | Group Stage, Group G

FT: Egypt 1 - 1 Iran

The offside that qualified Egypt to next round

Saeid Ezatolahi (Iran) hits the bar against Egypt 90+8'

Iran disallowed goal against Egypt 90+6'

Egypt 1 - [1] Iran - R. Rezaeian 14'