Iran suffered a heavy blow inside the first ten minutes of their World Cup 6-2 defeat to England.
Goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand came off worse in a head clash with one of his own players – and eventually coming off the field as well.
Beiranvand rushed off his line to slapat a dangerous cross from the England captain, Harry Kane, and careened head-on into one of his own defenders, who was backtracking towards the mouth of the goal.
In a stoppage that lasted almost ten minutes, medics examined the keeper, who seemed determined to stay on despite the risk of concussion, and even though he seemed visibly disoriented.
“Common sense has prevailed,” commentator Martin Tyler said as Beiranvand appeared to finally leave the field. But he was actually just grabbing a new jersey.
“Courage, for sure, but ... even now ...” the surprised commentator said before trailing off.
The match restarted for about a minute before Beiranvand signalled to the bench, indicating he needed to be replaced, and lowered himself back to the ground, still looking groggy.
“We could have got to this point a lot earlier, but we know the pride in professional sportsmen. He really wanted to carry on,” said Tyler.
Baffled football fans and experts couldn’t understand why the keeper was allowed to stay on in the first place.
“Cannot believe Alireza Beiranvand has been allowed to continue. That is so, so dangerous,” said The Daily Mail’s women’s football correspondent Kathryn Batte.
“There’s no way Beiranvand should be allowed to continue after that collision. Even though he’s coming off now, he should have gone straight off,” said former player David Meyler.
And former England star Jermaine Jenas was blunt: “This really is unacceptable.”
