Iran's players burst into tears! They were just half a step away from advancing, with a better situation than South Korea: only one of three conditions needs to be met to still qualify.

In the final round of Group H of the World Cup, which ended on June 27 Beijing time, Iran drew 1-1 with Egypt, ending up third in the group. Whether they can reach the knockout stage for the first time in their history will only be determined after the last three groups' final matches tomorrow.

Iran nearly made history in this match. Despite conceding a quick goal at the start, they had several scoring chances afterwards. After captain Taremi missed a penalty, Rezaeian equalized with a low-angle shot.

In stoppage time of the second half, Iran almost scored a winner. However, Khalilzadeh's added-time goal was ruled offside; replays showed the Iranian player was only half a foot offside.

If that goal had stood, Iran would have surpassed Egypt and moved to second place in the group, reaching the World Cup knockout stage for the first time. But fate played a cruel joke on them once again.

After the final whistle, several Iranian players like Rezaeian broke down in tears, a scene that was deeply moving.

Of course, Iran is not completely out. With 3 points from three unbeaten matches, they currently rank 6th among the 12 third-placed teams, and their qualification situation is even better than South Korea's. Iran has already secured a better position than South Korea, Scotland, and Uruguay.

If just one condition is met in the last day's matches of three groups, they can miraculously advance. The three conditions are:Democratic Republic of Congo does not beat Uzbekistan, Algeria loses to Austria (or Algeria beats Austria by a large margin), Croatia loses to Ghana..