Alireza Beiranvand Saves Belgium From Themselves in Goalless Draw
Seven saves. Not one of them came easy. Alireza Beiranvand spent 90 minutes at SoFi Stadium standing between Belgium and the goal his team’s own forwards could not find, and Iran’s 0-0 draw with the Red Devils on June 22, 2026, belonged almost entirely to him.
Iran drew 0-0 with Belgium at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, in their Group G match at the World Cup. Belgium had Nathan Ngoy sent off in the 66th minute. Beiranvand made seven saves to keep out a Belgium side that finished with 1.79 xG to Iran’s 0.62, and the result lifted Iran top of the group on two points.
Here is what Beiranvand was carrying into this game. Iran arrived in Los Angeles under conditions no other team at this tournament had to deal with, training base shifted from Arizona to Mexico, travel restrictions forcing the squad out of the city within hours of full time, all of it stemming from a conflict back home that started in late February. Manager Amir Ghalenoei fielded the oldest starting eleven at a World Cup match since 1966. Beiranvand, at 33, was the experienced head behind a defense that had little margin for error and even less rest.
He needed every bit of that experience in the second half.
The save everyone will remember arrived in the 59th minute. Leandro Trossard lifted a ball into Kevin De Bruyne on the left byline, De Bruyne brought it down in one touch and rolled it across the six-yard box, and Maxim De Cuyper arrived with the goal gaping in front of him. Beiranvand got there anyway, stretching out his left arm to turn the ball behind for a corner. It was the kind of stop that does not show up clean on a stat sheet. It just keeps a scoreline at zero when it should not be.
De Cuyper was not finished. Beiranvand denied him again in the 86th minute, this time punching away a low strike from point-blank range after Timothy Castagne’s cross found the Belgian defender unmarked. Two golden chances, two saves, both from the same player.
Make no mistake, the goalkeeper was not simply reacting. Beiranvand had already been busy before Belgium went down to ten men, dealing with seven shots on target across the match while his defense in front of him chased shadows for long spells. Belgium controlled 70 percent of the possession and completed 533 passes to Iran’s 198. None of it mattered once Beiranvand planted himself in front of goal.
There was an odd symmetry to the night. Mehdi Taremi thought he had given Iran the lead in the 25th minute, turning home Ehsan Hajsafi’s clever reverse pass from a free kick, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. Iran never did find the breakthrough their share of the chances arguably deserved, even with a one-man advantage for the final 25 minutes after Ngoy’s red card. Beiranvand’s night, in the end, was not really about offense at all.
It rarely is for a goalkeeper holding a line that will not hold itself.
Iran leave Los Angeles with their second straight clean sheet and top spot in Group G heading into the final round of matches. None of that happens without the man between the posts. Beiranvand flew back out of the city within hours of the final whistle, as the travel restrictions demanded, carrying a result that gave his country’s chaotic tournament a reason, for one night, to believe.