This was supposed to be the easy one. Belgium's last great generation — De Bruyne now plying his trade at Napoli, Lukaku leading the line, Courtois restored in goal after a long injury layoff — against an Iran side missing their most reliable recent goalscorer, Sardar Azmoun, left out amid federation tensions before the tournament even started. Instead, Rudi Garcia's side spent ninety minutes proving that total control of a football match and an actual goal are two entirely different products. Belgium finished with 70% possession and 23 shots. They finished with zero goals. Alireza Beiranvand, the one man standing between Iran and a result that would have looked far worse on paper, made seven saves and turned in arguably the single best individual performance of anyone on the pitch in either color.
The contest's defining moment arrived in the 66th minute and made an already difficult afternoon considerably harder: a defensive lapse left Mehdi Taremi — Iran's most dangerous attacker, the man behind that outrageous overhead kick against Chelsea in Europe — clean through on goal, and Nathan Ngoy's only available option was to bring him down outside the area. Straight red card. Belgium played the final 24 minutes with ten men, and somehow that barely seemed to register on the stat sheet — they kept the ball, kept generating chances, and kept not scoring, while Iran's discipline at the other end held firm and Thibaut Courtois was required to make a save or two of his own to protect the share of the points his side already had.
Garcia didn't dress the result up afterward. "We could have won by three goals against Iran but we weren't efficient enough," he said. "We had many attempts and when you don't score, you don't win a match. We dominated, so tactically and in terms of the game plan we played as we wanted to play. But we were wasteful and lacked efficiency." On the man down spell specifically: "Playing 30 minutes down a man is very difficult in a World Cup." Belgium's golden generation — De Bruyne's last World Cup, almost certainly Lukaku's too — now has a group decider still to navigate, and a performance like this one to make sure doesn't repeat.
Twenty-three shots, zero goals, a red card, and still couldn't lose — that's not a moral victory for Belgium, it's a five-alarm warning. De Bruyne, Lukaku, and Trossard combined for nothing in front of goal against a side missing its most reliable striker. If this generation's last World Cup ends without a signature win, today's box score will be Exhibit A.
Seven saves against a team with 70% of the ball is the kind of shift that quietly keeps an entire group alive. Iran are unbeaten through two matches without scoring a single goal in regulation tonight, and their goalkeeper is the single biggest reason why. Group G's "easy" fixture for Belgium turned into the hardest ninety minutes of their tournament so far.
De Bruyne is 34. Courtois has already had to fight back from one long injury layoff to be here at all. This was meant to be the match where the experience gap showed. Instead, Belgium leave SoFi Stadium with the same number of goals they came in with and one fewer man for the final half hour. The farewell tour needed a statement. It got a stat sheet instead.
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇮🇷 Iran | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 🇧🇪 Belgium | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 🇳🇿 New Zealand | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 🇪🇬 Egypt | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Iran and Belgium are level on points (2) and goal difference (0) — Iran hold top spot only on goals scored, 2 to 1. New Zealand and Egypt are also level on points (1) and goal difference (0), with New Zealand ahead only on goals scored, 2 to 1 — but that's before they play each other later tonight in Vancouver. This table updates again once that match finishes.