Article by Mihai Șovei – Published Monday, June 15, 2026, 2:36 p.m. / Updated Monday, June 15, 2026, 2:37 p.m.
Iran and New Zealand meet on the night of Monday to Tuesday, from 04:00 (Romanian time), in a match in group G of the 2026 World Championship. The game from Los Angeles will be broadcast liveTEXT on GSP.ro, on TV on Antena 1, but also on the AntenaPLAY platform.
Although before the final tournament there was a possibility that Iran would not participate in the World Cup due to the tense political situation with the United States of America, the national team led by Amir Ghalenoei will debut in Los Angeles.
LIVE 04:00 » Iran – New Zealand
Probable teams in Iran – New Zealand
Iran: Beiranvand – Yousefi, Khalilzadeh, Nemati, Mohammadi – Ezatolahi, Ghoddos, Mohebi – Ghayedi, Taremi, Hosseinzadeh
Selector: Amir Ghalenoei
New zealand: Crocombe – Payne, Surman, Boxall, Cacace – Stamenic, Bell – Garbett, Singh, Just – Wood
Selector: Darren Bazeley
Referee: Cssar Arturo Ramos (Mexico)
Stadium: SoFi Stadium (Los Angeles)
Iran – New Zealand, tense duel at the World Championship
Iranprobably one of the most controversial national teams participating in this summer's World Championship, begins its journey to the final tournament tonight.
The Asian country has been in the headlines throughout the build-up to the World Cup for good reason related to a possible abandonment. The tense political situation with the United States of America, one of the host countries, was the main question mark regarding participation in the tournament.
Iran's participation in the World Cup has been seriously jeopardized and even now they have had to set up their training base in Mexico, flying in and out of the US to play their group stage matches.
It will go their way in the first group match new zealand. In their third ever appearance at a World Championship, the Darren Bazeley-led national team qualified by winning the Oceania qualifiers.
Ranked 85th in the FIFA rankings, New Zealand is the lowest-ranked nation participating in the World Cup.
The two technicians prefaced tonight's duel.
We are here to make a good match, a high quality match. We don't pay attention to the hustle and bustle and everything that happens around us. Of course, all teams have their own problems, and in many countries there are many things that have nothing to do with football.
We are not political people…football is separate from politics.
– Amir Ghalenoei, Iran coach
To be honest, I treated it like a normal match. We prepare the same for every international match we play and we didn't do anything different for this match. For us, it's an important game because it's a World Cup game and we want to do well here at the World Cup.
– Darren Bazeley, New Zealand coach
