18 days to the World Cup: When Iran knocked the U.S. out of France ’98

The countdown to the 2026 World Cup is on! Each day ahead of the tournament’s return to North America, Yahoo Sports will highlight an insight or moment that showcases just how grand the world’s biggest sporting spectacle has become — even beyond the expanded field of this year’s global event.

The United States vs. Iran match at the 1998 World Cup had more than group stage survival on the line. It was a meeting between two countries with a long history of political tension. That might have been the backdrop, but the players on the field were focused on bouncing back after losing their opening games.

What that meant was U.S. vs. Iran on June 21, 1998 was basically an elimination game. Germany and Yugoslavia each won their opening matches and then drew against one another. That put both countries on four points with the Americans and Iranians sitting on zero ahead of their meeting.

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During a pre-match ceremony, Iran’s players handed the U.S. players white roses and the Americans gave their counterparts United States Soccer Federation pennants as symbols of peace. The teams then gathered together for a group picture.

Once the match got underway, Iran would take the lead in the 40th minute on a Hamid Estili header. U.S. coach Steve Sampson made a number of changes to the formation and lineup — none of which paid off. In the 84th minute, Mehdi Mahdavikia doubled Iran’s lead to 2-0, forcing the Americans to scramble in order to avoid elimination.

Brian McBride cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 87th minute, but that was all the U.S. would manage to do in the match.

The defeat sunk the U.S. to 0-2, knocking them out of the World Cup — one in which they would lose all three group stage matches.

The historic first World Cup win would give Team Melli hope of advancing out of the group if they could upset Germany. But a miracle in Montpellier was not in the cards as the Germans would top the group following a 2-0 victory.

The U.S. and Iran would meet again two years later in a friendly match at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, site of the 1994 World Cup final. The match would end in a 1-1 draw.

It would be 22 years before the two countries met again on a soccer pitch and like 1998, it came during a World Cup and was an elimination game.

Iran needed only a draw to move on to the knockout stage as long as England beat Wales, while the U.S. needed a win to have any hope. Christian Pulisic delivered the game’s only goal in the 38th minute after crashing the net to put home a Sergiño Dest header.