The decisive blow landed not in Seattle, where Iran had just held Egypt to a 1-1 draw, but a day later and 1,500 miles away in Kansas City. With the final whistle of their own match, Iran’s players and staff could only watch the screen as Austria and Algeria met in a fixture that would deliver either passage to the last 32 or the cruellest of exits. When Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez struck in stoppage time to make it 3-2, Iran were through. Ninety seconds later, Austria’s Sasa Kalajdzic headed in a desperate equaliser and Iran’s World Cup was over – eliminated as one of the best third-placed sides despite not losing a single group-stage match.

Iran had arrived at the final round of group games with three draws, a record that demanded a sequence of results elsewhere to fall into place. The draw with Egypt was a replica of the fine margins that haunted their campaign: a second-half penalty by Mehdi Taremi was saved, Shoja Khalilzadeh had a late goal ruled out for the most fractional of offsides after a VAR review, and Khalilzadeh then sent a header against the crossbar in the dying seconds. “I can’t see any luck in my team,” said a tearful defender Ramin Rezaeian afterwards. The same patterns had played out against Belgium, when another goal was disallowed by the tightest of calls, and against New Zealand, where a Taremi shot struck the woodwork. Iran left the tournament undefeated but winless, a statistical oddity that left captain Taremi to label it “a disaster World Cup”.

Untangling the sporting disappointment from the extraordinary logistical ordeal that shaped Iran’s tournament is impossible. Owing to the state of hostilities between Washington and Tehran, the United States denied visas to key support staff and forced the squad to base itself across the border in Tijuana, Mexico. The team was permitted to enter the US only on the eve of each match and was required to return immediately after the final whistle, a gruelling rhythm of cross-border travel that players and coach Amir Ghalenoei said wrecked training and recovery. “It was the host that wasn’t very good to us,” Ghalenoei said, urging FIFA to intervene. The Iranian federation formally condemned “unjust and anti-sporting treatment”, while in handwritten notes left in changing rooms in Los Angeles and Seattle, players thanked local communities and insisted that “fair play is the soul of the game”. Mexico, and especially the city of Tijuana, received public declarations of gratitude from the team for providing refuge and hospitality.

The final calculations were brutal. Croatia’s 2-1 win over Ghana and DR Congo’s 3-1 victory against Uzbekistan meant Iran’s only remaining lifeline was a non-draw between Austria and Algeria. For a few delirious moments, Mahrez seemed to have sent Iran through; the subsequent equaliser sent them home. For a team that had reinvented itself under pressure – staying compact, defending resolutely and creating enough to beat better-fancied opponents – the reward never arrived. Iran leave an expanded 48-team World Cup with their heads held high but empty-handed, a reminder that in tournament football, a place in the next round can hinge on a single headed clearance in added time played a time zone away.