By Behnam Jafarzadeh

Iran were one of the first teams to secure qualification for the 2026 World Cup and, compared to previous campaigns, they had a relatively smooth path to the tournament. However, preparing the team for the competition has been anything but easy. Iran’s conflicts with the US and Israel threw their involvement at the World Cup into serious doubt – all three of their group games take place in the US – and Amir Ghalenoei, the manager, and his coaching staff have had to work hard to minimise disruption.

Nevertheless, in their two friendlies in March against Nigeria and Costa Rica, Iran showed that they have different plans in mind for the World Cup. In the first match against Nigeria, they lined up in a 3-6-1 formation – a setup Ghalenoei described as the team’s “defensive plan B”, likely designed for the group meeting with Belgium. In the second game against Costa Rica, Ghalenoei used a 4-4-2 formation, indicating that he intends to shift tactics depending on the opponent. The primary system remains 4-2-3-1, which Iran used in most of qualifying.

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Despite the problems and controversies surrounding the national team, who moved their World Cup base camp from the US to Mexico just weeks before the tournament, Ghalenoei still believes his side are capable of achieving something special. “We’ve had many problems recently, but the players tried their best and made sacrifices. They worked so hard [through qualification] and sacrificed a lot, so it is my job to thank them. They can do something epic in the World Cup. They can do it, they have the technical potential to make this a World Cup to remember.”

Find out more about the Iran football team behind the headlines …

Hello and welcome to live coverage of the World Cup match between Iran and New Zealand at Los Angeles Stadium. This is one of the most highly anticipated games of the group stage even while featuring two sides that have never reached the knockouts at the tournament.

The conflict between Iran and the US-Israel has dominated the buildup to the game – and much of the tournament – with uncertainty over whether the Asian nation would even be permitted to play matches in a country with which it is at war. That’s before getting to the many disruptions that have affected the Iran player’s and team staff’s preparations, including ongoing issues over visas and entry to the US, and being based in Tijuana, Mexico, while all three of their group stage matches are fixtures north of the border.

Turning attention to matters on the pitch, Iran are playing at their seventh World Cup. But they are still to progress past the group stage – only Scotland have been to the global tournament more times and found the first round an insurmountable hurdle. While Iran have that history, as well as modern-day chaos and challenges to overcome, they have strong form behind them after breezing through qualifying with only one defeat in 16 matches, and ramping up their final preparations with three comfortable victories.

New Zealand, on the other hand, have largely flown under the radar and arrive as the lowest-ranked team at No 85. This is just their third appearance at the tournament after making their debut and suffering three defeats in 1982. They returned in 2010 and were the only side to leave South Africa undefeated after holding reigning champions Italy to a 1-1 draw in the group stage and also sharing the points with Slovakia and Paraguay.

But that record leaves New Zealand still searching for a first World Cup triumph. Darren Bazeley’s side won all five qualifying matches – while scoring 29 goals and conceding only once – to take full advantage of the Oceania conference being guaranteed a spot at this year’s tournament. Their form has dipped more in recent times, but with Belgium and Egypt the other sides making up Group G, this looks as good a chance as any for the All Whites to claim a breakthrough victory.

Kick-off is 6pm local or PDT/9pm EDT/2am BST/11am AEST. For those counting down from the lands of the competing nations, kick-off is 4.30am IRST/1pm NZST. I’ll be back shortly with the line-ups and team news. In the meantime, get in touch with any questions, thoughts and predictions. You can shoot me an email, or find me on Bluesky @martinpegan.bsky.social. Let’s get into it!