Belgium 0-0 IR Iran: Thibaut Courtois and Alireza Beiranvand take centre stage as ten-man Red Devils nick draw | OneFootball

Plenty of chances followed Nathan Ngoy’s sending off but neither side could break the deadlock

Belgium were fortunate to escape with a draw after defender Nathan Ngoy was sent off in the second half of their World Cup clash with Iran.

Ngoy got his marching orders shortly after the hour mark when he lost control of the ball and cynically denied Mehdi Taremi bearing down on the Red Devils’ goal.

The stalemate means both sides have drawn two games and will have everything to play for in the final round of Group G matches.

Iran, who arrived in Los Angeles late after their travel from a Tijuana training base was disrupted, weathered early pressure as Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne went close before posing serious questions of their own.

Ineffective: Romelu Lukaku endured a difficult outing

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Thibaut Courtois did well to push away Hossein Kanani’s effort and Iran then found the back of the net with an inventive free-kick.

Ehsan Hajisafi shaped to shoot from 25 yards but instead played a pass to Taremi, who made a gap between the wall and a defender and rolled the ball past Courtois.

Iran’s joy was cut short by a VAR check that showed Taremi was marginally offside.

Brick wall: Alireza Beiranvand kept Iran in contention with a number of fine saves

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Courtois came to Belgium’s rescue again in the second half by denying the lively Taremi, while Tractor star Alireza Beiranvand shook off an early injury concern to make two excellent saves from Maxim De Cuyper to secure a crucial point.

Ngoy’s dismissal saw the game open up considerably and set up a frantic finish, though neither side could find a way through and the match ended goalless. It is just the third match of this World Cup to end without a goal.

It means the opening three matches in Group G have all ended level, with New Zealand due to face Egypt in the small hours of Monday morning to see if any one team can finally stamp their authority on this group ahead of the final matchday.