Belgium and Iran met on Sunday night at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, in the second round of Group G at the 2026 World Cup. Both teams entered with one point from their opening matches, and both knew a win would move them closer to the knockout stage. Belgium came in as the favorite, but after a disappointing 1-1 draw with Egypt, Iran hoped to spring an upset.
Belgium coach Rudi Garcia made a long decision over his starting striker and eventually chose Romelu Lukaku to lead the attack. Lukaku had changed the team after coming on as a substitute against Egypt, and Garcia said before the match that the veteran forward would not be able to play more than 60 minutes. Jeremy Doku was left out because of respiratory inflammation.
Iran were also dealing with complaints aimed at the organizers and FIFA, but tried to set that aside and focus on the match. The referee was Argentina's Dario Herrera, and the game was played at SoFi Stadium.
Belgium lined up in a 4-3-3 with Thibaut Courtois, Thomas Meunier, Nicolas Ngoy, Brandon Mechele, Maxim De Cuyper, Nicolas Raskin, Kevin De Bruyne, Youri Tielemans, Charles De Ketelaere, Romelu Lukaku and Leandro Trossard. Iran used a 5-3-2 with Amir Gholanouei as coach, starting with Alireza Beiranvand, Sadegh Hedarani, Hossein Kanaani Zadegan, Shoja Khalil-Zadeh, Omid Norafkan, Ehsan Hajsafi, Ramin Rezaeian, Saeid Ezatolahi, Saman Ghoddos, Mehdi Taremi and Mehdi Mohebi.
Group G was tightly packed after one round, with Iran and New Zealand on one point and Belgium and Egypt also on one point. The schedule then called for New Zealand vs. Egypt on June 22 in Vancouver, and final-round matches on June 27, including New Zealand vs. Belgium in Vancouver and Egypt vs. Iran in Seattle.
