Iran 2, Wales 0

As protests that have gripped Iran emerged at the World Cup, its national team rallied late for its first win at the tournament in Qatar.

Rouzbeh Cheshmi scored in the eighth minute of second-half stoppage time to break a scoreless stalemate and Iran went on to defeat Wales on Friday.

Goal celebrations by the team were in contrast to the scene outside Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, where pro-government fans harassed anti-government national team supporters.

Iran's victory came after a disastrous loss 6-2 to England in the opener in Qatar, as players were dogged by questions about the unrest back in Iran.

"I believe this was the solidarity between the team members that we were able to achieve this result," Cheshmi said afterward through a translator.

His strike from outside the box was just beyond the diving reach of Wales backup goalkeeper Danny Ward, who was pressed into duty when starter Wayne Hennessey was sent off in the 86th minute for a high challenge on Mehdi Taremi.

Ramin Rezaeian added a second goal moments later and Iran wildly celebrated — tossing coach Carlos Queiroz in the air — while Welsh players dropped in disbelief to the field.

"It was really very emotional, especially because we rebounded from a difficult situation," Queiroz said, "Nobody likes to lose, and especially when you lose by those numbers. It is a tough job. But this is the beauty of the game, there is only one game in front of you."

Iran goes on the play the United States on Tuesday for its final match in Group B.

Gareth Bale made his 110th appearance for Wales, the most all-time for the national team, but the Welsh appeared sluggish early after a 1-1 draw with the United States in their Group B opener.

Wales, which fell to last place in the group with the loss, faces a tough challenge in England on Tuesday.

"We want to finish the competition on a on a high, it's out of our hands in regards to going through, but we want to finish with a good performance and a win," Wales coach Rob Page said.

Wales is making just its second appearance at the World Cup and first since 1958.

Bale, who played for Major League Soccer's LAFC this past season, remained stuck on 41 goals for the national team, despite surpassing teammate Chris Gunter (109) for most all-time appearances.

Recovering from the crushing defeat to England, Iran fared better against Wales for its first World Cup win over a European opponent. Iran has never advanced to the knockout round at a World Cup.

The Iranian team has been peppered since its arrival in Qatar with questions about unrest back home. The players, who did not sing the country's national anthem in their opener in an apparent show of solidarity with protestors, linked arms and sang on Friday.

"Our job it is to produce joy, happiness, pride for the people. That's our job. We're not indifferent to anything that happens in the world. But we – like doctors, like engineers, like pilots – we need to do our jobs," Queiroz said "We hope that this 90 minutes of entertainment really helps the people to feel that joy, that happiness and that pride," Queiroz said.

Senegal 3, Qatar 1

The show is over already for the Qatar team, which was eliminated from the World Cup less than a week after it opened the tournament and launched the first version of soccer's biggest event in the Middle East.

Qatar lost to Senegal for its second straight defeat at the World Cup and its exit was confirmed a few hours later, when Netherlands and Ecuador drew 1-1 in the other Group A game.

Becoming the quickest host nation team to depart the tournament in the 92-year history of the World Cup, Qatar can't qualify for the last 16 no matter what happens in its last game against Netherlands.

South Africa had been the only other home team to fail to make it out the group stage in 2010 — but it at least managed a win and a draw.

"If you expected us to go very far in this tournament, then it will be a disappointment," Qatar coach Félix Sánchez said before his team was officially out. "Our goal was to be competitive."

The writing was on the wall from the very start for Qatar. The team may be the 2019 Asian champion, but looked nervous and was overwhelmed in the 2-0 loss to Ecuador last Sunday straight after a glittering opening ceremony put on by the wealthy Gulf emirate and meant to showcase it to the world.

Friday's performance by Qatar was a little, but not much better for a squad that all plays in the local league and is missing the kind of top talent that is present in almost every World Cup team now.

Qatar at least scored this time, a second-half header by substitute Mohammed Muntari, a Ghanaian-born striker who is one of many in the squad born outside Qatar but brought in to boost its chances at the World Cup. At 2-1, Qatar threatened a comeback against the African champion for just six minutes before Bamba Dieng responded to hit home Senegal's third goal and reestablish a two-goal cushion.

Senegal got its campaign back on track after losing its opener to Netherlands. Coach Aliou Cissé was also pleased that three forwards, Boulaye Dia, Famara Diedhiou and Dieng, got on the scoresheet as Senegal has its own challenge at this World Cup: Filling the chasm left by the pre-tournament injury to Sadio Mané.

Cissé had instructed his remaining forwards to step it up before playing the host at Al Thumama Stadium in Doha. They responded.

"Yes, we understood the message loud and clear," Dia said. "Efficiency efficiency, efficiency. You need to get in front of the goal and you need to score."

Qatar had never qualified for the World Cup before FIFA's highly-contentious decision in 2010 to give it the tournament. That gave its team automatic entry. But although the oil- and gas-rich nation spent around $220 billion of its vast riches on building stadiums, roads and even a new city for the World Cup, it couldn't put together a solid defense for the team.

Qatar fell behind against Senegal after an amateurish mistake by central defender Boualem Khoukhi, who tried to make a clearance under no pressure, didn't connect properly and landed on his backside. The ball dribbled away from Khoukhi and Dia lashed it in for his first World Cup goal.

Diedhiou made it 2-0 at the start of the second half with a header from a corner while two Qatar defenders failed to stop him.

Qatar did get a stroke of bad luck when it was denied a penalty and the chance of the lead before Dia's goal. Akram Afif, who was born in Doha, was knocked over by a charging Ismaila Sarr but referee Antonio Mateu of Spain didn't award a penalty even though replays suggested that contact was made.

"We have to forget about today, move on and play the Netherlands," Sánchez said.

Netherlands 1, Ecuador 1

The young Ecuador squad followed their captain Enner Valencia to the corner of the field after he scored yet another goal for them at the World Cup.

One of the true leaders in Qatar, Valencia had leveled the score at against the favored Netherlands to extend his streak of scoring all six of Ecuador's goals at World Cup tournaments since 2014.

The 33-year-old talisman was surrounded by teammates who joined him in a joyous circle of celebration. All were soon kneeling on the turf, some with arms around shoulders, some pointing to the night sky at Khalifa International Stadium.

It sent a powerful image of unity home to a nation which "is used to suffer and struggling," coach Gustavo Alfaro said in translated comments after a game his young team deserved to win.

Valencia was among the last to rise from the turf as teammates gave the new top scorer at this World Cup a last pat on his head and shoulder.

"He's a top-level player when he wears the Ecuador jersey. Sometimes he is criticized unfairly," Alfaro said, reminding that Valencia is the only holdover from the 2014 squad which didn't advance from the group despite his three goals.

In Qatar, Valencia's goals in a 2-0 win over the host nation and a third to earn a point against the group-leading Dutch mean a draw against Senegal on Tuesday will be enough to enter the round of 16.

This result also eliminated host nation Qatar just five days after the start of its home World Cup that cost about $200 billion to prepare.

The Netherlands and Ecuador moved up to four points in Group A. It left Qatar with zero points after losing 3-1 to Senegal hours earlier.

Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal said he was satisfied with a point rather the performance against "a much better opponent."

"We were poor in terms of ball possession. We lost every challenge, every duel, every second ball," Van Gaal said, who shared a smile — and was that another hug? — with Alfaro as their paths crossed at the post-game news conferences.

"He is the best," Alfaro said in English of Van Gaal though his team had limited the Dutch to two shots on goal and had 14 of their own.

The Dutch were passive after Cody Gakpo fired them into a sixth-minute lead with a rising shot from the edge of the penalty area. It was the fastest goal scored so far in Qatar.

Ecuador leveled when Valencia passed the ball into an empty net after Pervis Estupiñán's shot was pushed away by goalkeeper Andries Noppert. It capitalized on ragged play throughout the Netherlands defense, after Noppert was almost caught in possession by the hard-charging Valencia and cleared the ball weakly.

A deserved winning goal almost followed minutes later when the Netherlands crossbar was rattled by a rising left-foot shot from Gonzalo Plata.

"To me the result was not the most important thing today, it was their attitude," Alfaro said. "We are talking about 20-, 21-year-old players with a great future ahead of them."

Their next test is against Senegal with Valencia likely restored after being stretchered off the field in the 90th minute. He was able to get up and walk the bench, where a bag of ice was taped to his right leg.