Chicago City · USL League Two · Midfielder · #10 · Mexico · 25 yrs
Elijah Just was left "a little disappointed" despite scoring twice as New Zealand started their World Cup with a 2-2 draw with Iran that had BBC pundit Chris Sutton suggesting had "added a couple of zeros" on to the Motherwell midfielder's transfer value. The 26-year-old became the first Well player to score at a World Cup - and his country's top scorer ever at a finals - with two sublime finishes at Los Angeles Stadium. "It is a memory that'll last me for the rest of my life," Just said while paying tribute to captain Chris Wood, the 34-year-old Nottingham Forest striker, for setting up both goals.
Marko Stamenic became the third Swansea City player to feature in this summer's World Cup finals, playing almost the entirety of New Zealand's 2-2 Group G draw with Iran in Los Angeles. The 24-year-old midfielder was in the starting line-up for the All White's first World Cup appearance in 16 years, playing 92 minutes before being replaced by Nottingham Forest's Tyler Bindon in stoppage time. "I'm always thinking of him when I step on the field, whether that's for the national team or for Swansea," Stamenic told BBC Sport Wales.
During 101 minutes of action in Los Angeles, Iran were finally able to focus on football. The buildup had been unprecedented, messy and chaotic. But then, in the aftermath of an entertaining draw with New Zealand, Iran’s captain, Mehdi Taremi, described their World Cup as a “disaster”, explaining how the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, went into their dressing room to hear their concerns. The head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, labelled them the “most oppressed” team at the tournament after being forced to return to Mexico after the game.A charter flight from LAX was scheduled for 11pm local time. It was a lively end to a relatively drama-free occasion, despite pre-match protests and an underlying anxiety around how the team would be greeted by their own supporters. What, really, were the emotions flowing through their veins as they took to the pitch? A few hours earlier, Donald Trump, in France for the G7 summit, said a peace deal had been signed after almost four months of war. Infantino, who in effect recently admitted he is powerless to prevent the chaos that continues to plague Iran’s preparations and overshadow their participation, was up in the VIP seats. Continue reading...
Iran captain Mehdi Taremi says his team is having a challenging World Cup experience amid the multifold disruptions caused by the tensions created by their nation’s ongoing war with the co-host U.S. The Iranians arrived in the Los Angeles area on Sunday from their training base in Tijuana, Mexico
Iran captain Mehdi Taremi says his team is having a challenging World Cup experience amid the multifold disruptions caused by the tensions created by their nation’s ongoing war with the co-host U.S. The Iranians arrived in the Los Angeles area on Sunday from their training base in Tijuana, Mexico
The Iran striker Mehdi Taremi has said the controversy and disruption surrounding their involvement at the World Cup undermines Fifa’s message of peace and conceded he felt the tension before arriving in Los Angeles on the eve of their opener, hours before a peace deal was announced. On Sunday Iran flew to LA from Tijuana, Mexico, where they were relocated amid an ongoing row over visas, but are expected to face opposition from Iranians, many of whom believe the national team do not represent the country. Iran has been beset by problems in the buildup to the tournament, with several officials denied entry to the US.
Ghalenoi hopes disruption does not impact his teamWorld Cup newsletter | Daily podcast | Download the appThe Iran striker Mehdi Taremi has said the controversy and disruption surrounding their involvement at the World Cup undermines Fifa’s message of peace and conceded he felt the tension before arriving in Los Angeles on the eve of their opener, hours before a peace deal was announced. For the first time since the competition’s inception, a host nation has received a country with which it is at war.On Sunday Iran flew to LA from Tijuana, Mexico, where they were relocated amid an ongoing row over visas, but are expected to face opposition from Iranians, many of whom believe the national team do not represent the country. Iran has been beset by problems in the buildup to the tournament, with several officials denied entry to the US. Continue reading...
Iran’s World Cup team touched down on American soil on Sunday, arriving at Los Angeles International Airport after a short flight from their base camp in Mexico. This is the first time in the cup’s nearly 100-year history that a host nation receives a country it is at war with.
Iran and New Zealand will meet at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Monday evening, as both nations begin their 2026 World Cup campaigns in Group G. Iran will see this as a major chance to start the tournament with three points, while New Zealand returns to the World Cup stage for the first time […] The post Prediction: Iran vs New Zealand appeared first on SoccerNews.
The US version of the tournament’s opening ceremony helpfully focused on one of its main themes: aspirational consumerismThe 2026 World Cup: a festival of football; a moment to revel in upsets, spectacular goals, stars made, and reputations ruined; a test of Didier Deschamps’s unshakable addiction to Adrien Rabiot. But also: a celebration of America; a chance for Fox Sports to prove the haters wrong; a social experiment to see how long Thierry Henry can last on set with Alexi Lalas before resorting to physical violence. “This is going to be filled with American fans,” Lalas shrieked as Los Angeles Stadium began to swell with spectators before the US’s opening match against Paraguay. “This is going to be bursting at the seams with America!”But where was the pomp, the bombast, the Americana? The US opening ceremony – the third and final installment in the trio of launch parties for this supertanker of a World Cup – didn’t quite live up to the Lalasian hype. This was a ceremony with all the charm of Rob Stone in his pocket square fake-smiling as he says the immortal words, “Brazil v Morocco, live tomorrow from New York New Jersey, brought to you by Verizon”: a ceremony that felt oddly flat, but was trying all the same. It was almost as if Fifa had absorbed all the pre-tournament criticism and decided: “You know what? We just can’t be bothered.” But Friday’s launch did still offer a sense for how this tournament will play out as a cultural spectacle. The early verdict: this is a World Cup built above all to accommodate the insatiable needs of American TV. Fox Sports is not simply the host broadcaster for this World Cup; it is the tournament’s very soul. If that’s the type of sentence that gives you hives, the next five weeks will best be watched on mute (or Telemundo). Continue reading...
