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‘Stank the place out’: Wales supporters criticize their team for poor performance against Iran, which shatters their World Cup dream with just one point after two games
- Wales lost 2-0 to Iran, shattering their hopes of qualifying for the last 16
- Wayne Hennessey was sent off late before Iran scored two goals in stoppage time
- Sucker punches came as Wales looked for a point against Iran
- Result means Wales now have to beat England in their final group game
Wales’ World Cup dreams have been shattered after two late Iran goals gave them an Everest-sized battle to reach the last 16.
Wales struggled for long periods against a motivated Iranian side, coming in after a 6–2 hammer over England in their opening group game, and clinging on for a point towards the end.
Wayne Hennessey’s sending off just after 80 minutes looked fair and although Iran had missed a good number of chances before that, it looked tired and struggled to score until Rouzbeh Cheshmi turned up after 98 minutes with a fantastic finish to win the game.
Rouzbeh Cheshmi scored the dork that leaves Wales in all sorts of trouble heading into their final group game
Introduced just minutes earlier and following an injury-plagued season for Swansea in which he played just 493 minutes in the Championship, Joe Allen did not get a sufficient connection to his clearance and Cheshmi took the opportunity.
As Wales pushed for an unlikely equalizer, Iran struck again. Ramin Rezaeian, who had been running around Wales’ midfield all afternoon, hit them with a four-to-one break and dinked the ball over the hapless Danny Ward.
Reacting to the defeat on social media, Wales fans weren’t in a complimentary mood as they watched their side throw away a pretty good chance to take their first World Cup win in 64 years.
“Joe Allen pretty much single-handedly cost Wales that game. He only played 12 minutes,” one person wrote.
No less than Iran deserves. Joe Allen’s endorsement sums up the whole performance in a nutshell,” wrote another. “It’s heartbreaking to watch.”
‘Wales was awful there, you know. Stung the place. Iran should have won about 4-0,” another social media user wrote.