Hamid Estili’s goal in the 41st minute has given Iran a 1-0 lead over the United States at halftime of their Group F qualifying match. Fullback Javad Zarincheh made a run up the right side and lofted a cross to Estili in the box, and his lofted header from behind the penalty spot beat Kasey Keller to the far post. The goal came against the run of play, as the U.S. controlled possession for much of the half. In fact, the U.S. used its flank players well, created several good scoring opportunities and played far better than they did in the first half against Germany. The one thing that hurt the Americans was the poor quality of their crosses into the box. Tab Ramos won a free kick for the U.S. near the right sideline about thirty-five yards out. Claudio Reyna took the kick and Brian McBride’s driven header from the far side of the box went off the crossbar. Frankie Hejduk’s rebound effort was saved by the Iranian keeper Abedzadeh. Just a minute later Cobi Jones did well to penetrate into the box all the way to the endline, but his pass back narrowly missed the trailing U.S. players and was cleared away. Iran’s Mehrdad Minavand was booked in the eight minute for a foul on Frankie Hejduk, while American defender David Regis received a yellow card ten minutes later for a hard foul on Khodadad Azizi. Iran had another good scoring chance in the 21st minute. After Ramos lost the ball in midfield, Azizi broke free past Thomas Dooley and had a one-on-one with Keller. The U.S. keeper slid out for the ball and bundled into the Iranian forward, whose appeals for a penalty were denied. The U.S. was fortunate, as replays appeared to show that Keller had not touched the ball. A fine chested pass from Wegerle freed Hejduk on the right side of the box in the 32nd minute, but his cross was just over McBride’s head. The U.S. again came close to scoring just a minute later, when Wegerle got the ball on the right side outside the area and passed it back to Reyna at the top of the box. He took the ball to his left a few feet and fired a left-footed blast that caromed off the right post. The U.S. will have to regroup during the intermission, as a loss will give them no chance to advance to the second round.