TEHRAN – Iran national football team and New Zealand shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw in their 2026 FIFA World Cup opener early Tuesday.
At SoFi Stadium, Elijah Just gave New Zealand an early lead just seven minutes into the match, linking up with striker Chris Wood inside Iran’s box before unleashing a powerful volley into the roof of the net.
Iran responded in the 32nd minute, when Ramin Rezaeian pounced on a loose ball in the area and stabbed it home to level the score at 1-1.
Just struck again in the 54th minute to restore New Zealand’s advantage, but Mohammad Mohebbi brought Iran back on terms 10 minutes later with a header set up by Rezaeian.
Iran are making their seventh appearance in the competition, while New Zealand are featuring for the third time.
Team Melli are set to face Belgium in Group G on June 21 before taking on Egypt five days later.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: tehrantimes.com
