{"id":731443,"date":"2026-06-28T18:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T18:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/731443\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T18:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T18:16:09","slug":"iran-and-south-korea-miss-out-on-world-cup-last-32-in-dramatic-third-place-race-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/731443\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran and South Korea miss out on World Cup last 32 in dramatic third-place race | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The race for third-place teams reaching the last 32 of the World Cup went down to the wire and the dying seconds of the final match of the 72-game group stage, with Iran and South Korea<\/a> eventually joining Scotland and Uruguay in missing out.<\/p>\n

Iran appeared to be going through at the expense of Austria after Riyad Mahrez scored in the 93rd minute to put Algeria 3-2 up in their rollercoaster game against Ralf Rangnick\u2019s side in Kansas City. But in the 96th minute Sasa Kalajdzic turned home an equaliser for Austria that saved their World Cup<\/a> and meant despair for Iran.<\/p>\n

Iran can feel particularly hard done by, given they exit undefeated after three draws in Group G. In the end, the only third-place team who go through on three points are Senegal, whose 5-0 win over Iraq<\/a> in their final group game, and the huge goal-difference boost that provided, proved decisive.<\/p>\n

Third-place table<\/a><\/p>\n

Results earlier in the day meant South Korea, who won their opening game against Czechia<\/a>, are also out. The criticism in the country has been fierce, with the head coach, Hong Myung-bo, firmly in the firing line.<\/p>\n

Yonhap News Agency called South Korea\u2019s premature exit \u201cdismal\u201d and added: \u201cThe national team suffered the humiliation of a 2026 World Cup<\/a> group-stage exit after three days of agonising hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their tournament was overshadowed by a row between the squad and local media, while a drone also buzzed a crucial training session before the Mexico defeat.<\/p>\n

Scotland also miss out after their troubled campaign<\/a>, that resulted in Steve Clarke resigning as head coach<\/a>, while Uruguay\u2019s exit was confirmed after their defeat to Spain on Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The race for third-place teams reaching the last 32 of the World Cup went down to the wire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-731443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}