The match between Iran and Egypt ended in a draw. As a result, Korea's group third-place ranking dropped to eighth, leaving it on the brink.
On the 27th (Korea time), Iran drew 1-1 with Egypt in the Group G third match of the tournament's group stage at Seattle Stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States.
In the 5th minute of the first half, Egypt's Mahmoud Saber scored, and in the 14th minute, Iran's Ramin Rezaeian scored one each. Late in the match, Iran's Shoja Khalilzadeh's go-ahead goal was canceled after video review for offside.
The result is unwelcome for the Korea national team. Iran (three draws, 3 points) and Korea (one win, two losses, 3 points) are level on points, but Iran leads Korea on goal difference.
Because of that, Korea's group third-place ranking fell to eighth. At this World Cup, the top eight of the third-place teams from each group can advance to the round of 32.
Now Korea can reach the round of 32 only if two specific scenarios from the final third matches in Groups J, K and L on the 28th go its way.
Opta, the statistics specialist, put Korea's probability of advancing to the round of 32 at 87.76% on the 25th when Group A's stage ended, but lowered it to 53.24% on the 26th and further to 31.51% on this day.
In Group J, Austria (three goals for, three against) and Algeria (two for, four against), both on 3 points (one win, one loss), face off. There are two scenarios: Austria must win, or Algeria must win by two goals or more to widen the goal-difference gap between Austria and Korea.
In Group K, third-place Democratic Republic of the Congo (one draw, one loss) must lose to fourth-place Uzbekistan (two losses). If Uzbekistan wins, it will move to third in the group with 3 points, but with a current goal difference of -7 (one for, eight against), it needs a victory by at least six goals to overtake Korea.
In the final Group L, second-place Ghana (one win, one draw) must beat third-place Croatia (one win, one loss) for Korea to get ahead in the battle for third place in the group.