From Hatem Maher

LOS ANGELES, June 28 (Reuters) - Iran's hopes of reaching the knockout stage of the World Cup for the first time came to a painful end on Sunday after Austria scored a last-minute equalizer against Algeria, knocking the Asian nation out of the top eight third-placed teams in the tournament.

Coach Amir Ghalenoui's team finished their campaign in Group G on Saturday with a 1-1 draw against Egypt, leaving them to wait and see if the three points they earned were enough to secure a place in the round of 32.

Iran had already suffered a major setback when their stoppage-time winning goal against Egypt was disallowed for offside.

Iran was thus left waiting for other results in the group stage matches to go in its favor, and for several minutes today it seemed that Iran was already on its way to qualifying when Algeria scored a goal in stoppage time to take a 3-2 lead over Austria.

However, Austria managed to score the equalizer almost at the last touch of the game, to achieve a 3-3 draw that advanced both teams to the next round and denied Iran a place in the knockout stage in their seventh World Cup appearance.

Iran leaves the tournament without a single defeat after draws with Belgium, New Zealand and Egypt in a difficult run due to off-field problems.

Uncertainty over obtaining visas and the conflict between Iran and the United States forced the team to relocate from its training camp in Mexico, one of the tournament's host countries, to play its three group stage matches in the United States.

The US authorities stipulated that they must enter within 24 hours before the match and leave on the same day, although these restrictions were eased slightly for their last match in Seattle, where they were allowed to arrive two days before the match.

US President Donald Trump said last March that Iran was welcome to participate in the World Cup, but he did not think it was appropriate for the team to be in the United States "for the life and safety of the delegation."

After the draw with Egypt, team captain Mehdi Taremi described the situation as a logistical "disaster" and questioned whether his team was truly welcome in the tournament.

Taremi told reporters, "Who wants to help us? If they want us to leave the tournament, fine, let us leave. But that's not fair."

Prominent members of the Iranian delegation were unable to join the team in the United States, and coach Galenavi said his team was being "persecuted".

Ultimately, Iran's trajectory was decided at crucial moments.

Had Taremi converted the penalty in the first half against Egypt, or had his header found the net instead of hitting the crossbar later on, Iran might have been looking forward to playing in a knockout round match for the first time.