Why offside was called on Iran goal in controversial ending vs. Egypt to deny World Cup win

Why offside was called on Iran goal in controversial ending vs. Egypt to deny World Cup win originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

There was still a defender behind the ball when Iran scored the goal that seemed like it would get them a FIFA World Cup win on Friday night.

Offside was called after a VAR review. The goal was disallowed. The match with Egypt ended in a 1-1 draw.

On screenshots of the play, it's confusing for most fans of the game.

There was clearly an Egypt defender deeper than the attacking player when the ball was hit in his direction.

But that's not actually how the whole rule works.

MORE: With Messi, history and magic go hand in hand

The rule actually refers to the "second-last defender," because the goalkeeper is almost always behind the play.

On this play, though, Egypt's goalie had come out of his net, and he's no longer the last defender.

So the defender behind the ball more or less becomes like the goalie for the interpretation of this rule.

And because there wasn't a second player there, it's offside.

It's a brutal break. It's unlucky. There's nothing Iran could've really done differently here.

But sometimes, the depths of the rulebook work out in your favor, and sometimes they don't.

Here, Iran was the one so close to a glorious moment, one that was taken away by replay and a sneaky rule.

USA, England can't actually play on July 4th

Why Norway brought 600 pounds of salmon to the World Cup

Eloy Room leads Curacao to astounding World Cup history

It had to be Mo Salah for Egypt

Lamine Yamal outdoes Messi, Ronaldo in historic moment for Spanish wunderkind