📸 2014 wants its meme back: World Cup star’s tragically iconic celebration

📸 2014 wants its meme back: World Cup star’s tragically iconic celebration Bitter, tragic, unbelievable, dramatic, sad. There are probably a thousand words to describe this insane finale between Egypt and Iran. Quite a lot had already happened in the match at 1-1 before it built toward an absolute dramatic climax in the final minutes. Depending on the result in the other group match between New Zealand and Belgium, Egypt could still have finished top of the group until shortly before the end, while Iran, with a win, still had a shot at second place and thus guaranteed qualification for the knockout stage. We were in the third minute of stoppage time when chaos broke out in the Egyptian penalty area. The beneficiary: Iran’s Shoja Khalilzadeh, who put the ball in the net and sparked scenes of wild celebration. He himself launched into what was probably a well-prepared celebration routine, took off his shirt and put on the “Thug Life” sunglasses known from internet memes. They are usually used in pictures and videos in which ordinary people act in an unexpectedly cool, rebellious, or fearless way. Incidentally, this trend, which went viral in 2014, peaked in 2015. So it has been around for quite a while, though in theory it still would have suited a footballer perfectly if he had just fired his team into the round of 32 with a last-minute stoppage-time goal. The problem: the joy, the celebration, the ecstasy — all of it came too early. The goal was checked by VAR. It turned out that Khalilzadeh was offside by the tiniest margin. So no goal after all.  Cool glasses, reviving a legendary meme, a yellow card for taking his shirt off: all for nothing. Iran did have another major chance afterward, but it remained a draw. Whether third place in the group will be enough to go through is still unclear. So Iran must keep sweating it out and will surely remember this absolutely bitter finale and the almost legendary celebration for a very, very long time.  This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.