Iran face New Zealand in their World Cup opener in Los Angeles amid a backdrop of tension with the United States due to the ongoing conflict between their country and the co-hosts.
The Gulf nation’s participation in the finals was plunged into doubt when war broke out on February 28, when the US and Israel launched joint airstrikes against Iran.
Iran and the US remain in talks over an end to the conflict, though a resolution has yet to be reached.
Though they moved their tournament base to Mexico, a request for Iran’s games to be moved out of the US was denied. With Iran restricted from staying overnight in the US, they must fly into and out of the country on the same day.
Despite those logistical challenges and the emotional toll of playing games in a country with which their nation is at war, Iran are favourites to start their Group G campaign with a win over New Zealand.
While Iran are ranked 20th in the world, New Zealand are 65 spots further down as the lowest-ranked side in the competition.
Since wrapping up qualification in March 2025, New Zealand have claimed just two victories and suffered warm-up defeats to Haiti and England without scoring a goal.
Indeed, New Zealand have failed to score in four of their last five games, with their form providing little reason to believe they can win a game at the World Cup finals for the first time.
New Zealand have not featured at the World Cup since they drew each of their group games in 2010, with their unbeaten performance failing to clinch a place in the knockouts.
Iran have won a game in each of the last two World Cups, but have still never gone beyond the group stage. The expansion of the tournament and the tweak to the format that sees the top eight third-placed finishers go through to the knockout rounds gives them a huge chance to change that.
Both sides will be desperate to take the opportunity to put one foot in the knockout rounds in what will likely be seen as the most winnable game for each team in a group that also features Belgium and Egypt.
And with New Zealand aiming to break their duck and Iran’s World Cup campaign taking on a significance well beyond football, an emotional and potentially historic evening is in the offing at SoFi Stadium.
Team news for Iran v New Zealand
Iran’s Roozbeh Cheshmi has been ruled out of the World Cup with a knee injury.
There are also injury question-marks around Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Dennis Eckert and Mehdi Torabi.
Matt Garbett (hamstring) is a doubt for New Zealand.
