Los Angeles ¨C Coach Amir Ghalenoei hailed Iran¡¯s unbeaten start to the World Cup as a ¡°great achievement¡± that will be remembered by future generations, following a 0-0 draw with Belgium on Sunday.

Having arrived at the tournament under the shadow of war, Iran has drawn both its opening games and still has a chance to qualify for the knockout round for the first time.

Ghalenoei praised his players for holding Belgium, ranked 10th in the world, to a stalemate in Los Angeles on Sunday despite facing the strain of considerable visa and travel restrictions in the United States.

¡°This is a great achievement,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯ve had two games without losing in the World Cup, with the conditions that we¡¯ve had.

¡°We had less than 16 hours to get to do training before the game,¡± he said, after his team was not permitted to travel to the U.S. early from its base camp in Mexico.

¡°This is a great achievement, and it will be written about in the history of our football, and future generations will talk about this.¡±

Before the game, the Iran anthem was booed by members of Los Angeles¡¯ extensive Persian exile community, who oppose the country¡¯s hardline regime. But the team itself was vocally supported by a majority of the packed stadium.

¡°I want to thank all the Iranians, with different attitudes regarding politics,¡± Ghalenoei said. ¡°They supported us, and they gave us energy.¡±

Ghalenoei said that despite Belgium having Nathan Ngoy sent off in the 66th minute, Iran was ¡°lucky not to lose¡± given the strength of the opposition.

¡°I don¡¯t think any team in the world could have really sustained with such conditions, and played like this ¡ª the conditions have been extremely hard for us,¡± he said.

¡°Our players are really giving everything, they are playing with their heart.¡±

In an evenly poised Group G, Iran must secure at least a point in its final game against Egypt, which will take place in Seattle next Friday.

¡°Tomorrow we need to focus on the game with Egypt. Egypt is a very strong team, they have very good players,¡± the manager said. ¡°Our first and utmost aim is to reach the next round.¡±

Iran midfielder Alireza Jahanbakhsh also paid tribute to the team¡¯s ¡°spirit¡± and ¡°amazing performance.¡±

He said the team would draw upon the experience of narrowly failing to progress from its group at the last World Cup, when it crashed out after a 1-0 defeat against the United States.

¡°Last World Cup, we tried to do the best thing, but very last minute, we couldn¡¯t do it,¡± he said.

¡°But now I think the most important thing is we go to recover...