INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Albeit for incredibly different reasons, Iran and New Zealand have had two of the most unusual buildups to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But on Monday evening, all of that was put aside for a soccer game at Los Angeles Stadium (SoFi Stadium) that just might have been the best game of the tournament so far, ending in a pulsating 2-2 draw.
And then, alas, reality descended once more.
But first, the contest. Some games can be best described as a chess match. Others are a slog, or perhaps a grind, and others are one-way traffic. This one felt like a sprint, with both sides going pedal to the metal straight from the opening kickoff, alternating who had the wind at their backs multiple times, and not letting up until they shared the spoils at full time.
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Twice it was the combination of Chris Wood and Elijah Just that saw New Zealand move ahead, with Just's brace making him the first Kiwi to sit atop the Golden Boot race at a World Cup. And even though they ended up being forced to settle for a point, the Oceania Football Confederation champions are now undefeated in four World Cup games, without a loss since 1982.
In the seventh minute, Just pinched the ball off Wood after he'd chested it down in the penalty area -- which takes significant gumption, given the latter's status as New Zealand's all-time leading goal scorer -- and smashed a volley into the net. Then, after Iran's first equalizer and 10 minutes into the second half, Just played a brilliant one-two with Wood, restoring the lead and becoming the first New Zealander man to score twice at a World Cup.
Lax defending from the Kiwis allowed the Iranians to equalize when Shahriyar Moghanloo rolled Finn Surman before Ramin Rezaeian, who had instigated the move, reacted faster than Michael Boxall and leaped forward to poke home. And though they fell behind again, Iran weren't done and equalized when Mohammad Mohebi drove a gap between Boxall and Surman and rose to meet a Rezaeian cross with a superb header, making it 2-2.
Twice the Iranians were able to respond to Just's goals, exploiting lapses from the New Zealand defense to restore parity and bring the largely Iranian crowd to its feet. Given their disrupted buildup and the overwhelming focus on the players, the Iranians could have easily fallen apart, but instead, they rallied and finished the game the stronger of the two.
If you're looking for a theme, it's that a furious 90 minutes saw the sides exchanging chances, with both probably walking off the field at the end simultaneously feeling as though they should have won the game but also having survived enough near misses to keep them humble.
It was hectic and back and forth, as two nations that you'd never really think about facing off gave it everything they had to take advantage of the Egypt-Belgium draw earlier in the day and take an unexpected lead in Group G. It was pure, distilled World Cup.
And with so much of the run-up to this fixture being dominated by the conflict between Iran and the United States and Israel, and questions of whether Iran would be able to take up a place at the tournament, Monday's game felt like a burst of oxygen.
In the 88th minute, pressing to find a late winner, Iran's players waved their arms to the crowd, urging fans to make some noise and give them the momentum they needed to claim the win. Certainly, even with the visa bans and withdrawal of tickets for supporters, it was their fans who represented the vast majority at the venue, with the Persian community in Los Angeles earning it the nickname "Tehrangeles" and a healthy contingent of Mexicans adopting the side after its relocation to Tijuana. Yet while many of the supporters in the stands wore some kind of clothing bearing the Sun and Lion symbol of the prerevolution government, and the anthem of the Islamic Republic had been met with jeers and whistles, the response to the players was cheers, and a deafening roar when Rezaeian and Mohebi scored their equalizers.
Good vibes. Fleeting ones. Not that we should have expected them to last. And given the overarching circumstances surrounding the game, as much as one might have hoped to, it wouldn't be responsible to rob this matchup of its context. For one can't remove it from the background of the war, the almost impossible line that Iran's players are forced to walk when representing their country, the relatively small but loud protests against not just the Islamic Republic but also these players outside, nor the barriers that have been placed in front of their participation in this tournament.
In the aftermath of the game, after being led into the mixed zone, Mohebi spoke about not being allowed to fly in two days before the game, while Mehdi Taremi reiterated the chaos that had defined his team's preparations. Taremi, Iran's captain, noted that rather than stage a recovery session Tuesday morning before flying back to Tijuana, the team had been ordered to fly back to Mexico straight after the game. He spoke of the absence of several members of the team's staff, including a media officer who probably would have done a much better job of cutting off the postgame news conference than the meek efforts that the fill-in managed.
Taremi mentioned that FIFA president Gianni Infantino had visited the locker room after the match. But while there were declarations of wanting to help the Iranians, Taremi didn't have many details to share about what the head of FIFA had actually offered.
"We are tired of talking about that," he said as a barrage of questions about everything but the game continued. "If they help us, we are very appreciative of that. If nobody helps us, it doesn't matter. We will stand back to back, behind each other, and we will try our best to win our next game."
