The 2026 FIFA World Cup has gotten off to a flying start on the pitch.
With the expanded tournament, it's a bigger extravaganza than ever before, and that means the Cup is more action-packed than ever. With so much happening every day, ESPN India attempts to pick out the one magical moment that defined the day's action.
For Day 11, we pick a miraculous save from Alireza Beiranvand for Iran against Belgium.
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Kevin De Bruyne plucked the ball out of the air with a touch of genius. Killing a lovely Leandro Trossard through ball, sent flying over his shoulder, dead at the byline, he turned, squared up Shoja Khalilzadeh and pinged a ball into the Iran six-yard box. Goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand dived at it, but missed it, and it ricocheted off Ali Nemati to Maxim De Cuyper.
From about four yards out, the Belgian fullback swung hard and connected well. This would be it, then. 1-0, Belgium: Iran's magnificent defensive display of the past hour finally taken apart. As De Cuyper connected, the goal gaped. There was going to be no stopping this. After all, Beiranvand was stranded hopelessly, having missed that earlier interception.
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Beiranvand had been on the floor before.
Born into a nomad family who only settled down when he was 12, he had been a shepherd growing up. He picked up football by playing it in his free time and fell in love with it by the time the family had settled in the village of Sarab-e Yas (~500km to the southwest of Tehran), but he hadn't spent much time there. His father had been vehemently opposed to his dreams of becoming a professional goalkeeper and even cut his gloves (and jersey) at one point, but because Beiranvand wouldn't take no for an answer, he ran away from his home, his village, and took a bus to Tehran. Which is when he learned to embrace the floor. On the street around Azadi Tower in the city centre, at the door of the first small-time club he trained with in Iran's capital, inside a dressmaking factory owned by the father of a teammate, at his first major professional club's prayer room... it was on the floor that Beiranvand had slept as he worked inch-by-inch to making that wild dream of his a reality.
He worked part-time jobs through his youth career: at that dressmaking factory, at a car wash, at a pizza shop, as a street cleaner. While he was with Naft-e-Tehran, he was selected for the Iran national youth team, and before long he was Naft's first choice keeper. From there, the rise was spectacular.
In 2016, he moved to Iran's biggest club, Persepolis, for a record fee for any Iranian goalkeeper. In 2018, he was playing at the World Cup, saving a penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo. Now, in 2026, he was making his 88th appearance for the national team.
"I suffered many difficulties to make my dreams come true, but I have no intention of forgetting them because they made me the person, I am now," he had told the Guardian in 2018.
You see, he had not forgotten what it was like to be on the floor. And he hadn't forgotten how he had risen from it by dint of sheer willpower.
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From that position on the SoFi stadium floor, Alireza Beiranvand picked himself up. Somehow, he found enough lift to propel his massive frame upward and stretched out his left hand. The speed of his movement was stunning, the strength of the extended arm even more so. De Cuyper's hit, seemingly destined for the net, suddenly found its way to goal blocked.
A few yards out, Romelu Lukaku stood with his mouth agape and his head in his hands: it was the only reasonable reaction to seeing one of the great World Cup saves of all time in such close quarters. In that moment, he - and his Belgian mates - knew that Beiranvand wouldn't be beaten today. It simply wasn't going to happen.
Iran gave as good as they got at the other end, while at theirs, Beiranvand stood tall to keep it 0-0. It was their second straight draw in what has been an incredibly tough tournament for them -- their coach called theirs the "most oppressed" team at the 2026 World Cup, and that they had played in the "worst conditions" and it's hard to argue with either assessment. And yet, they are within touching distance of qualification to the knockouts... all because this a team that simply doesn't know when they've been beaten. And if ever a moment crystallised that indefatigable quality of theirs, it was that stunning save-of-the-tournament by their giant shepherd-turned-homeless boy-turned master goalkeeper, Alireza Beiranvand.