Fifa World Cup: All Whites draw 2-2 with Iran after memorable Eli Just double in opening match in Los Angeles

Tuesday, 16 June 2026

At Los Angeles Stadium: New Zealand 2 (Eli Just 7’, 55’) Iran 2 (Ramin Rezaeian 32’, Mohammad Mohebi 64’). HT: 1-1.

Los Angeles: Eli Just gave the All Whites the lead twice as their first Fifa World Cup campaign in 16 years got going, but they ultimately had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Iran in a pulsating encounter.

Having risen to the occasion with one of their best attacking displays outside Oceania – certainly the best in their short World Cup history – they will look back on this as a golden chance for a first World Cup win gone begging, in front of a 70,108-strong crowd.

Just’s goals came at the end of flowing attacking moves and made him New Zealand’s leading men’s World Cup goalscorer, with captain Chris Wood racking up a pair of assists, reflective of his selfless approach to the No 9 role.

The two goals they conceded – 25 and 10 minutes after going ahead – continued a frustrating trend where the All Whites are guilty of switching off. Allowing Mohammad Mohebi a free header after working so hard to regain the lead will be particularly frustrating when they look back at a match where posession was shared rather evenly.

It’s all square in group G, with the four teams on a point apiece and the All Whites at the top of the standings, having scored two goals and conceded fewer yellow cards than Iran while doing so.

They next face Egypt in Vancouver on Monday (1pm NZT) and will do so having had midfielder Matt Garbett ruled out of the tournament with a hamstring injury.

The All Whites’ took the lead in their first World Cup match since 2010 in the seventh minute, with the kind of combination play most attackers dream of being part of.

After goalkeeper Max Crocombe kicked long for Wood, the English Premier League striker stood on the ball before feeding Just, who then found Sarpreet Singh ahead to his right. Singh then turned the ball around the corner for Wood, who laid it off to Just, who took a touch with his left foot then fired the ball into the back of the net with his right.

It equalled Shane Smeltz’s goal against Italy in 2010 as the earliest of the five scored by the All Whites at World Cups at that point and was the team’s first in 404 minutes of 11 v 11 action.

Their lead only lasted two minutes longer than it did on that occasion 16 years ago and this time around they only had themselves to blame, not a soft penalty decision.

Coming out of the hydration break midway through the first half, Iran got back up to speed faster and should have taken the lead when captain Mehdi Taremi led a break and fired a shot from the top of the box into the right post, when he had a team-mate running in to his left.

Callum McCowatt linked up with Singh in the middle of the field and they found Just running forward on the right. He fed Wood just inside the box and got the ball back before firing home for the second time on the night, giving the All Whites’ the latest lead they’ve ever had at a World Cup.

Crocombe came up big as Mehdi Gayedi crossed from the left for Iran, first blocking a header from Mohebi with his thigh, then palming the ball way from the danger zone when Taremi was lurking.

But the All Whites goalkeeper could do nothing when Mohebi equalised with a free header after getting between Michael Boxall and Finn Surman to meet a cross from Rezaeian on the right in the 64th minute, putting the ball in the bottom-left corner and ensuring any Kiwi joy was short-lived.

New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley introduced Ben Old and Ryan Thomas for Liberato Cacace and McCowatt during the second-half hydration break, which came after Crocombe punched a corner away then received treatment after a heavy landing.

The final stanza of the match was a nervy one, with both teams eager for a winner but just as eager not to concede, especially after Belgium and Egypt drew 1-1 in the first group G match earlier in the day in Seattle.

Wood had a late header from a Jesse Randall cross but it was comfortably claimed by Beiranvand.

After one last moment of danger was thwarted by a Thomas header just in front of his own goal, the All Whites had a fourth World Cup draw in a row, which is nothing to sneeze at, but it could have been so much more.