World Cup 2026 Group G [IRAN]

[Shey2n]

That LA match is going to feel like a home game at Azadi Stadium 😭

[Kavian]

A bit of a history for the younger ones here:

Iran foorball record against New Zealand includes two games a tie and a win. Both games I remember.

The first game was in August of 1973 in Auckland and in preparation for a match against Australia for the 1974 West Germany World Cup qualification. In those days AFC and OFC combined had only 1 spot in WC. Iran and Australia had reached the final of the qualification process. Iran's game against New Zealand ended 0-0, an uneventful game that also left Iran with number of injuries to key players. This proved deadly as Iran lost the match against Australia 3-0 a couple of days after. Many criticized the coach (Mahajerani) and the Federation for arranging this friendly so close to a critical game. Anyway, Iran won the return game in Tehran 2-0 (both scored by GhelichKhani), but it was short of beating Australia on aggregate and Iran failed to qualify for WC in 1974. However, Iran was on such accelerating progress in football that everyone knew World Cup qualification will be in reach soon, something that materialized in 1978 with decisive qualification.

The second game against New Zealand, was in October 2003 in Tehran. This game was arranged between the two federation as AFC-OFC challenge. In a year prior, New Zealand had managed to become the champion of OFC Nations Cup for first-time in its history by beating Australia. This match ended 3-0 for Iran. Iran dominated the game throughout the 90 min. If I recall correctly Ali Daie scored one or two of the goals.

Hope above is useful ..

[Artaxerxes]

Whit a real coach i really think we could get results as:

Iran vs New Zealand : 2-0

Iran vs Egypt: 2-2

Iran vs Belgium: 1-1

But then i woke up and remember that we are still stuck whit GN

[IRAN_TILL_I_DIE]

why isnt the stadiums determined ?

Today they determine the stadiums and times , only dates confirmed so far

[Pedram88]

why isnt the stadiums determined ?

[aariaa]

Then it couldn’t possibly be a dream group.

It is a dream group because we have a decent shot at not having more than -3 GD per game. This is the best we can hope for with GN. I’m very happy we aren’t facing better teams and conceding 5+ per game. I predict something like

Iran 2-2 New Zealand
Iran 0-3 Belgium
Iran 1-3 Egypt

[Club monaco]

This is wishful thinking brother, but not with Amir Ghalenoi as the head coach , if he the head coach , it be more like this

Iran 1 New Zealand 1

iran 0 Belgium 2

iran 0 Egypt 1

we not winning a single game with Ghalenoi as the coach ,,,, we be even lucky to get a draw with NZ ,,,

but compared to all the other groups we go a easy draw….compared to the other Asian teams …

yes this is the most likely outcome, with a draw we will lose all motivation and hunger and just crash out the last two matches

[Club monaco]

NZ will desperately fight and try to steal a point from us…if so, we will lose all motivation and hunger thereafter and end up the tournament with a point

or we will snatch all 3 , and go face a Belgium who are passed their golden generation of players, and are amidst a transitional era ...maybe with an unhealthy Doku or Trossard we can steal ourselves a point?

[a_m]

I say:

Iran 5 - 0 New Zeeland (LA)

Iran 2 - 3 Belgium (Vancouver)

Iran 2 - 1 Egypt (Seatle)

This is wishful thinking brother, but not with Amir Ghalenoi as the head coach , if he the head coach , it be more like this

Iran 1 New Zealand 1

iran 0 Belgium 2

iran 0 Egypt 1

we not winning a single game with Ghalenoi as the coach ,,,, we be even lucky to get a draw with NZ ,,,

but compared to all the other groups we go a easy draw….compared to the other Asian teams …

[Iran_19]

I think we end up with 3 points from first game and lose the other 2