Iran 2-2 New Zealand: Just’s brace cancelled out in entertaining contest | OneFootball

Ollie Whitmore, Chief football news reporter

Iran fought back twice to draw 2-2 with the World Cup’s lowest ranked side New Zealand in an entertaining Group G clash at the Los Angeles Stadium.

Elijah Just scored a brace either side of half time and Ramin Rezaeian’s equalizer that the Iranians had deserved, but the Motherwell midfielder’s second was also cancelled out by Mohammed Mohabi’s brilliant header just after the hour mark.

The Middle Eastern side performed admirably given the challenging political backdrop to their tournament, rising to the top of their group having collected no yellow cards in their bid to reach the knockout stages for the first time in their history.

As it happened

New Zealand got off to a terrific start with a flowing pass-and-move sequence through the middle initiated by Chris Wood casually chesting down Milwall goalkeeper Max Crocombe’s booming kick up the field before turning sharply.

The move was finished off by Just’s thumping effort from inside the box after Wood’s flick on with the end of his boot, beating goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand for the lead seven minutes into the contest.

It was the second fastest goal conceded by Iran in World Cup history behind José Velásquez’s strike just two minutes into their meeting with Peru back in 1978, and it came against the run of the play after having made a decent start.

Iran’s star forward Mehdi Taremi was then allowed far too much space to drive with the ball through the middle and went within inches of punishing New Zealand when his curling effort clashed against the bost, with Crocombe well beaten.

They would deservedly level just after the half hour mark when Saman Ghoddos on the edge of the penalty area touched a pass from the right through to Shahriar Moghanlou , whose blocked attempt on goal was pounced upon and poked home by Rezaeian.

Centre-back Ali Nemati thought he had given his team the lead on the stroke of half-time when he headed a free kick for a foul on Taremi into the net, only for the flag to raise on the near side to signal he was offside.

New Zealand regained the lead in the 54th minute when Sarpreet Singh picked the ball up 40 yards out and slotted an incisive pass through the middle to Just, who powered his second into the net after another neat one-two with Wood.

The Iranians chose not to rest on their laurels, however, and were level when Ghoddos picked out rigth-back Rezaeian with a brilliant left-to-right switch before the wing back’s pinpoint cross was headed in off the post by Mohebi.

Very little separated the sides as the game approached its final stages, with Taremi and Wood both having headed half-chances, as the contest came to arguably the fairest conclusion following good attacking displays from both countries.

Analysis: two top strikers on form in breathless game

The World Cup is beloved by so many for the opportunity to see football’s greatest talents do battle against one another in such high pressure matches.

But Iran’s meeting with New Zealand felt like the first to revolve around two players, one adorning each side: the Kiwi captain Chris Wood and his Iranian counterpart, Olympiakos striker Mehdi Taremi.

Elijah Just’s clinical brace was made possible by the Nottingham Forest striker’s exemplary strength and composure on the ball, using his towering frame to his advantage shielding off his opponents and threading the ball through for the opener.

Speaking on BBC 5 Live, former Everton midfielder Leon Osman said: “We spoke before the game about the importance of the talisman up front and the first time it has come up to Chris Wood he has taken it down well, started the attack and they scored.”

He then demonstrated a good eye for a pass in finding Just for his second of the game, intelligently dropping into a pocket of space to draw Iran’s defence towards him and create the space for his teammate to the right of goal.

As expected, Taremi was the focal point of Iran’s early attacks and was denied the equalizer by the post once New Zealand went in front and his country would’ve been ahead without the offside in the free kick that he then won.

Both 34-year-old Wood and 33-year-old Taremi certainly lived up to expectations that they would play prominent roles in the contest.

Analysis: Iran show encouraging signs in difficult circumstances

Iran knew before kicking off that this tournament would be the quite the challenging tournament.

With their appeal to FIFA to have Mexico host their three group stage games held in the United States, who are currently involved in the US-Israel conflict with Iran, refused by the governing body, they instead relocated their training camp.

What this meant was increased travel time between fixtures, risking player sharpness and likely reducing the number of hours available to train between matches.

Protests outside the Los Angeles Stadium against FIFA’s banning of the pre-revolutionary Iranian flag then followed prior to kickoff, Iran’s challenging circumstances barely manifested in the game.

Iran certainly had the license to feel down on their luck having gone behind against the run of the play, and were well worth the point secured by Mohammed Mohebi’s emphatic header to level for a second time in the game.

Iran hadn’t met with New Zealand for 26 years, since they defeated them in the AFC-OFC Challenge Cup, all the way back in 2003, and weren’t to know quite what to expect with how much both teams have changed since then.

Given the external strain placed on the national team and a potential meeting with co-hosts United States looming should they escape the group stage, Iran were half of one of the tournament’s best games so far and duly deserved a positive outcome.

What next for Iran and New Zealand?

Iran now prepare for a challenging clash with Belgium on the 21st of June, kicking off at 20:00 (BST), while Darren Bazeley’s New Zealand face Egypt the day after at 02:00 (BST).

With this the second group at the World Cup to see all teams level on one point after picking up draws so far, the next round of fixtures will prove crucial for all four nations in Group G.

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