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Wales goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey with a rough outside the box – red
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
At the start of the second matchday of Group B, Iran won 2-0 (0-0) against Wales.
At 8 p.m. England and the USA meet in the second match.
Before the opening game against England, the Iranian footballers remained silent in protest against the regime in their home country - this time they sang at least part of the anthem.
The crowd responded mostly with whistles.
Numerous fans could be seen in the stands with statements of solidarity with the protest movement in Iran.
In terms of sport, both coaches had thought of something new: after the unusual five-man chain against England and the 2-6 defeat, Iran switched back to the proven four players in the back row.
Bayer Leverkusen's Sardar Azmoun started in attack.
And for Wales, too, a new attacker should ensure success after the 1-1 draw against the USA: The 1.96 meter tall Kieffer Moore from Premier League club Bournemouth acted as a physically present target player.
And it was Moore who had the first chance of the game in the 12th minute.
A Connor Roberts cross from the right wing sent Moore toe-footing towards the Iranian goal, but Seyed Hosseini made a strong save.
He was one of five new starters to replace Alireza Beiranvand, who suffered a concussion in the opening game.
But Iran also caused unrest on the offensive: After a catastrophic ricochet in their own half, the Welsh were suddenly faced with a manpower situation in their own penalty area.
However, Azmoun passed through to Ali Gholizadeh, who was offside, rather than finding the finish himself.
The goal was rightly ignored.
It was spectacular shortly after the restart: Azmoun broke through on the right and hit the right post under pressure.
Gholizadeh sent the rebound to the left post, from where it fell on Azmoun's head again, but Wayne Hennessey was unable to overcome him (51').
From the 86th minute, Wales were outnumbered - Hennessey saw the first red card of the tournament after an emergency brake.
The 1-0 came in the ninth minute of stoppage time, two minutes later they even scored to make it 2-0.
On the 3rd day of group matches, Wales meets England and Iran meets the USA (29 November, both times at 8 p.m.).
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