Iran and New Zealand have named their beginning groups as each nations start their 2026 World Cup campaigns in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Staff Melli have by no means progressed past the group stage, struggling rapid eliminations at every of the final three editions.
The All Whites are in search of their first win on the finals of their seventh World Cup match, though they held Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay on the 2010 match, having misplaced three video games in 1982.
The match is the second to happen in Group G, which began when Belgium faced Egypt on Monday.
Our captain speaks on the eve of our return to the lads’s FIFA World Cup 🇳🇿🏆 pic.twitter.com/R8Dd9Mcv8s
— New Zealand Soccer 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) June 15, 2026
World Cup 2026: Iran confirmed staff vs New Zealand
Captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who was as soon as the Eredivisie high scorer and Brighton & Hove Albion’s club-record £17 million signing, has been battling a knock sustained with Belgian membership Dender however is match sufficient to start out on the bench.
Centre-back or midfielder Roozbeh Cheshmi will miss the finals with a hamstring harm.
Striker Sardar Azmoun – the third-highest goalscorer within the nation’s historical past, with 57 objectives from 91 caps – was unnoticed of the squad after reportedly angering the Iranian authorities by posting a photograph of himself with UAE ruler Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on Instagram in March.
Iran beginning XI: Beiranvand; Khalilzadeh, Mohammadi, Yousefi, Nemati, Rezaeian; Ezatolahi, Mohebbi, Ghoddos; Taremi, Moghanloo
Iran substitutes: Niazmand, Hosseini, Hardani, Hajisafi, Kanani, Iri, Jahanbakhsh, Cheshmi, Torabi, Ghorbani, Razaghinia, Ghayedi, Alipour, Hosseinzadeh, Dargahi
World Cup 2026: New Zealand full line up vs Iran
New Zealand midfielder Matthew Garbett, of English third-tier facet Peterborough United, was dominated out after sustaining a hamstring difficulty in coaching.
File 45-goal scorer Chris Wooden returned from a extreme knee harm for Nottingham Forest in April and performed for a lot of New Zealand’s defeat to England and previous 4-0 loss in opposition to Haiti.
Tim Payne missed two months of the season with a damaged collarbone and has been hampered by two minor hamstring points since then, however the 32-year-old right-back additionally featured in these friendlies, as did former Bayern Munich winger Sarpreet Singh, who suffered a major knee harm in February.
New Zealand beginning XI: Crocombe; Payne, Boxall, Cacace, Surman; Bell, Stamenic, Singh, Simply, McCowatt, Wooden
New Zealand substitutes: Paulsen, Woud, De Vries, Bindon, Pijnaker, Elliot, Smith, Rufer, Outdated, Thomas, Bayliss, Barbarouses, Waine, Randall
The place to look at Iran vs New Zealand: TV channel, dwell on-line stream
Kick-off on Tuesday is at 02:00 BST (21:00 ET / 18:00 PT). Within the UK, dwell protection is on BBC One.
Followers can stream the motion on an enormous vary of gadgets by the BBC iPlayer app and BBC Sport web site.
World Cup 2026: Iran vs New Zealand stats
- That is Iran’s seventh look on the World Cup, with solely Scotland (8) making extra appearances within the finals with out advancing
- Amongst groups to have taken half in at the very least World Cup matches, Iran have scored the fewest objectives per recreation (0.72), whereas solely Bulgaria have a decrease win fee (11.5%, vs 16.7% for Iran)
- Iran have scored six objectives over the past two World Cups in 2018 and 2022, 5 of which have come throughout second-half added time
- They’re unbeaten in 24 residence matches in qualifying (W20 D4); the longest run of their historical past, overtaking an 18-game run between 1993 and 2004
- Mehdi Taremi was straight concerned in 49% of Iran’s objectives in qualifying, scoring 10 and aiding seven out of 35
- Amir Ghalenoei is at his first World Cup as a head coach and is the third Iranian to steer his nation on the match, after Heshmat Mohajerani (1978) and Jalal Talebi (1998)
- New Zealand’s three attracts made them the one unbeaten facet on the 2010 World Cup
- Solely Honduras (9) and Egypt (7) have performed extra World Cup matches than New Zealand (6) with out ever successful
- They certified following a three-match knockout spherical in March 2025, beating New Caledonia 3-0 within the last to reap the benefits of the primary time Oceania has been assured one slot on the World Cup
- Captain Chris Wooden was the highest scorer within the Oceanian part of qualifying, netting 9 occasions throughout 5 matches.
- Darren Bazeley can be a World Cup debutant. The Englishman received the 2024 OFC Nations Cup with New Zealand and is the third particular person to steer the All Whites at a World Cup match, after John Adshead (1982) and Ricki Herbert (2010)
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