After the ecstasy of reaching their first World Cup in 64 years, came the agony for Wales.
Their ageing history boys were expected to bury Iran to move to within touching distance of qualification from Group B having scrambled a fortunate late draw against USA in their opener.
Much of the talk pre match from Wales' players was of how many goals they would score, not whether they would even win. But Wales’ World Cup dream turned into a nightmare at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium as they crashed to a deserved defeat.
With star duo Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey ineffective in the heat, Wales were always hanging on against Iran, who are 20th in the FIFA World rankings, just a place above Rob Page’s men.
Carlos Queiroz’s side had a goal narrowly ruled out for offside by VAR in the first half and then hit the post twice in the second half.
But they eventually prevailed in stoppage time in a breathless, dramatic finale after Wales were reduced to ten men for Wayne Hennessey’s dismissal for an x-rated challenge.
Wales were then brutally exposed by Iran, who cast aside the humiliation of their opening 6-2 loss to England. Rouzbeh Cheshmi lashed in a shot clocked at 40mph from outside the box which sparked a mini pitch invasion by Iran’s players and staff in injury-time.
Then Ramin Rezaeian lofted in another to seal victory as some of the Red Wall were left in tears with their side on only a point and staring at an early exit.
Not even the promotion of Kieffer Moore into the starting line up helped Page’s men much after the 6ft5in targetman changed the game against USA in their opener.
Both nations made their intention clear in an open start to the game with the teams targeting a win to boost their qualification hopes.
Wales nearly made an early breakthrough but keeper Hossein Hosseini did well to deny Moore’s volley from Connor Roberts’ cross in the 12th minute.
Yet it was Iran who then had the ball in the back of the net first. Roberts’ loose pass was intercepted and Sardar Azmoun played in Ali Gholizadeh who tapped in from close-range.
Fortunately for Wales, and Roberts especially, Gholizadeh was ruled offside by VAR as the goal was chalked off in the 16th minute. It did not disguise Wales simply weren’t good enough in the first half as they failed to create many openings.
Iran continued to be the better side after the re-start as Azmoun ran clear before smashing the post with an angled right-foot shot in the 50th minute.
Then remarkably Gholizadeh curled a left-foot shot against the other post from 25 yards in the same phase of play. It was enough to spur Page into action as he made a double substitution and switched to a flat back four. Yet despite the changes Wales continued to hang on.
They committed men forward but it left them exposed as Saeid Ezatolahi tested Hennessey with a low shot from outside the box that the keeper did well to tip around the post.
But Hennessey was then ordered off four minutes from time for pole-axing Mehdi Taremi with a mis-judged kick outside his area when the striker was clean through.
It gave Iran the impetus they needed to go on and deservedly win with a magnificent strike from sub Cheshmi who curled a low right-foot shot into the bottom corner outside the box after sub Joe Allen’s clearance went straight to him.
Wales’ players sunk to the floor in pain and they hit rock bottom when Rezaeian got the ball from Taremi and dinked the ball over Ward to leave Wales' World Cup campaign in tatters.
