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Christian Pulisic kicked the ball, scored the goal and crashed into the goalkeeper, a collision that sent the American star to a hospital and the United States into the second round of the World Cup, Associated Press reported. More than an hour later, he contacted his teammates by FaceTime to join the celebration. Pulisic’s 38th-minute goal had held up, and the United States had beaten Iran 1-0 on Tuesday night in their politically charged rematch to advance to the World Cup’s knockout stage. “Every single player is ready to lay their body on the line to make sure this team is successful,” midfielder Weston McKennie said. After finishing second in Group B with five points, two behind England, the U.S. plays the Netherlands on Saturday with the chance to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002. “I always say it’s us against the world,” winger Tim Weah said, “’cause no one believed that the U.S. could play good football.” Back in the World Cup after missing the 2018 tournament, the U.S. needed a victory to reach the round of 16. Iran finished third in the group with three points and has failed to advance in six World Cup appearances. “The dream is over,” Iran coach Carlos Queiroz said. McKennie started the play for the goal when he lofted the ball from just past the center circle to Sergiño Dest at the edge of the 6-yard box. Dest headed the ball in front of the net on a bounce as Pulisic charged up the center of the field past Ramin Rezaeian and Majid Hosseini. Twisting his body, Pulisic redirected the ball with his right foot for his 22nd international goal and first in World Cup play. His momentum carried him into goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand, according to Associated Press. “Christian makes those runs. That’s what he does. That’s the special quality he has,” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said. “As soon as the ball is wide, he goes in with intensity to the penalty box and good things happen.” Pulisic was sprawled on the field and for about three minutes as he received treatment. He tried to continue playing but was substituted at the start of the second half and taken by athletic trainer Harris Patel for abdominal scans at Hamad General Hospital, where Pulisic followed the game on phone apps. The U.S. Soccer Federation said Pulisic was diagnosed with a pelvic contusion, returned to the team hotel and is day to day. “I sent him a text and checked on him, and he said, ‘Best believe I’ll be ready on Saturday,’” McKennie said. Weah nearly doubled the lead in the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time but was ruled offside. Raucous Iranian fans with horns and drums in the crowd of 42,127 filled the lower bowl behind one goal at Al Thumama Stadium, a circular venue shaped like a gahfiya, a traditional hat. While the U.S. outshot Iran 9-0 in the first half, Iran had a 4-3 advantage in the second, knowing it needed only a draw to advance. Berhalter inserted Walker Zimmerman in the 82nd minute and shifted to a five-man defense. Nine minutes of stoppage time were announced. Morteza Pouraliganji’s diving header in the third minute went just wide. In the eighth minute, Cameron Carter-Vickers had a hand on Mehdi Taremi’s shoulder as the striker slid into Matt Turner, and the ball squibbed through the goalkeeper only for Zimmerman to clear it. Spanish referee Antonio Mateu denied Iran’s appeal for a video review, and the final whistle blew after the 10th extra minute. “I hope that our fans and our people in Iran forgive us,” Taremi said. Turner gave the U.S. consecutive World Cup shutouts for the first time since 1930. Inside the locker room, teammates tried to speak with Pulisic, Associated Press reported. “Everyone was screaming, so we couldn’t really hear too, too much,” Turner said. “He left everything, put everything on the line there and was able to get the ball across the line.”

The Netherlands still has a long way to go to match the “total football” teams of the 1970s, or even the more offensive “Oranje” squads that reached the World Cup final in 2010 and finished third in 2014, Associated Press reported. Still, a 2-0 win over Qatar on Tuesday ensured the Dutch advanced to the round of 16 by finishing first in Group A while the Qataris, who were already eliminated, became the first host to lose all three of its group matches at the World Cup. “If you play against Qatar everybody will think and expect that you’ll win 5-0 or more, but this tournament has shown that it’s very difficult,” Netherlands midfielder Davy Klaassen, who earned player of the match honors, said through an interpreter. “We’re very critical of ourselves and we need to improve,” Klaassen added. “But we have progressed and we’re going to move on.” Cody Gakpo put the Netherlands ahead midway through the first half with his third goal in as many matches and Frenkie de Jong doubled the advantage five minutes into the second half. The Netherlands, a three-time runner-up at the World Cup, will next face the United States for a spot in the quarterfinals. Qatar, which was making its tournament debut, won the 2019 Asian Cup. But the team’s Spanish coach, Félix Sánchez, said that the Asian Cup can’t be compared to the World Cup. “We came here trying to compete and we managed to do that,” Sánchez said, adding that he wasn’t sure about his future status with the team. “One of the things about our national team is that we have a long-term plan that doesn’t depend on me or anyone else,” Sánchez said. “We’re going to rest for a few days and we’re going to keep working and planning.” The Netherlands, which failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, finished with seven points at the top of the group. Senegal, which beat Ecuador 2-1 in the other group game, advanced in second place with six points. Ecuador was eliminated with four points and Qatar ended up with zero, according to Associated Press. The attendance at Al Bayt Stadium, which also hosted Qatar’s loss to Ecuador in the tournament opener, was given as 66,784 — nearly at full capacity. There were small pockets of orange-clad Netherlands supporters, and Qatar fans behind one of the goals chanted in unison and jumped up and down. At one point during the second half, Qatar fans held aloft a large Palestinian flag that said “Free Palestine” on it. In the 26th minute, Gakpo took control outside the area, dribbled forward and unleashed a powerful side-footed shot between two defenders that entered inside the right post. Gakpo became the fourth Dutch player to score in three consecutive World Cup games after Johan Neeskens (1974), Dennis Bergkamp (1994) and Wesley Sneijder (2010). He also became only the second player to open the scoring for his team three times in the same group stage after Alessandro Altobelli for Italy in 1986. “Cody Gakpo has everything it takes to become a star,” 71-year-old Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal said. “Plus he has a wonderful personality. He’s open minded to everything.” De Jong’s goal came when he sprinted forward uncontested to knock in a rebound from close range following a shot from Memphis Depay. A possible third goal for the Netherlands by Steven Berghuis was waved off following a video review for a handball in the buildup, Associated Press reported. Berghuis then hit the bar in added time. While the Netherlands dominated the possession and created many more chances, Qatar did push forward on occasion and there was a nervous moment for the Dutch when goalkeeper Andries Noppert had trouble collecting a long-range shot from Ismael Mohamed after Gakpo’s goal.

Cristiano Ronaldo was claiming the goal long after the final whistle and despite all available evidence to the contrary. The superstar without a club was denied, and denied another slice of Portuguese football history too, and may eventually have to accept his country’s serene progress into the last 16 of the World Cup was somewhat more important. Bruno Fernandes scored twice – despite Ronaldo’s protestations that he converted the first goal against Uruguay – to ensure Portugal joined Brazil and France as the only teams with a 100% start in the competition, The Guardian reported. An eagerly-awaited clash of two talented and tempestuous heavyweights did not meet expectations but the repercussions could prove monumental for Uruguay. The South Americans must beat Ghana on Friday and hope Portugal do them a favour against South Korea to avoid an ignominious early exit. Ghana have waited 12 years for a chance to avenge their infamous defeat by the hand of Luis Suárez at the 2010 World Cup. How they would love to torment a Uruguay team that is yet to become the sum of its big name parts in Qatar. “It is a crucial game but it has nothing to do with what happened 12 years ago,” insisted the Uruguay head coach Diego Alonso. “This is a different situation. We will bring all the weapons we have.” Alonso started with Federico Valverde, Rodrigo Bentancur, Darwin Núñez and Edinson Cavani. He introduced Suárez and Maxi Gómez, who both went close to equalising before Portugal were awarded a ridiculously harsh penalty in stoppage time.

Casemiro's 83rd minute winner was enough to book Brazil's spot in the knockout stages of the 2022 World Cup thanks to a 1-0 win over Switzerland at the Stadium 974 on Monday, ESPN reported. But for so much of the match, Brazil looked like they were missing the creativity offered by their absent star man Neymar as they continually tried to break down Switzerland's resolute defence only to come away empty handed. The first half was nervy and quiet, one of the rare moments which roused the crowd was the short power outage in the 43rd minute.