New Zealand are not supposed to be the team throwing the first haymaker against Iran at a World Cup. Iran has been a fixture at these tournaments, the Kiwis are the underdog tagalongs of Group G, and yet 7 minutes into the opener in Los Angeles it was Elijah Just sliding home the opener and sending the black kits sprinting to the corner flag.
Elijah Just's 7th-minute opener for New Zealand, with the FS1 scoreboard ticking from 0-0 to 0-1.
That is the dream start for a New Zealand side that has historically shown up to World Cups, parked the bus, and prayed for a draw. Going up 1-0 inside 10 minutes flips the entire script of Group G — suddenly Iran is the team chasing the game and the Kiwis are sitting on a lead in a tournament opener on American soil. The kind of moment that gets stoolgambling tickets ripped up and rewritten in real time.
Iran, to their credit, did not panic. They are too experienced for that. The equalizer arrived in the 63rd minute and it was a clean one — a header off a set piece, the kind of goal that has been Iran's bread and butter at major tournaments for two decades.
Iran's 63rd-minute header pulls it level at 2-2 on the FS1 broadcast.
So we are sitting at 2-2 in a game nobody outside of the two fanbases had circled on the calendar, and it has somehow become the most watchable match of the opening slate. The Hank Lockwoods of the world were hyping this as the showdown of the century 15 minutes before kickoff and, against all odds, it kind of delivered.
Soccer fever baby! 15 minutes until the showdown of the century —-> https://t.co/sGrRsgUPgd
Group G was already going to be a knife fight. A draw here helps nobody and hurts everybody — Iran needed 3 points to keep pace with the heavyweights in the group, and New Zealand had a chance to bank the upset of the tournament and lost it on a header. Buckle up, the back half of this group stage is going to be ugly in the best way.