World Cup as it happened: Heartbreak as New Zealand denied historic World Cup first

And that’s a wrap for nine.com.au’s live coverage of day five of the World Cup.

Let’s do it all again tomorrow for day six from 5am AEST with action from four more group games, beginning with France versus Senegal at New York/New Jersey Stadium.

Reigning champions Argentina will get their first taste of the 2026 tournament, coming up against Algeria at 11am in Kansas City.

See you then!

Amazingly, three of the World Cup groups are all level on one point apiece after five days of competition!

They are Group B (Switzerland, Canada, Qatar, Bosnia and Herzegovina), Group G (New Zealand, Iran, Belgium, Egypt), and Group H (Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Cabo Verde).

Groups I, J, K, and L are yet to begin.

In Group D, USA sits above Australia thanks to a 4-1 victory, compared to the 2-0 Socceroos triumph.

And guess what? They face each other on Satruday!

We have another four games scheduled for tomorrow.

Times in AEST:

5am: France v Senegal

8am: Iraq v Norway

11am: Argentina v Algeria

2pm: Austria v Jordan

Neither team can break the 2 - 2 stalemate and both New Zealand and Iran will pick up a point in their draw at Los Angeles Stadium.

With five minutes of added time, the stadium noise became louder with each scoring chance but no-one can find the back of the net.

The official attendance is 70,108 in Los Angeles.

Iran 2 draw New Zealand 2

It was supposed to be a sure thing.

A trader on prediction platform Polymarket lost nearly $1.4 million AUD after Cape Verde held Spain to a stunning draw on Tuesday morning.

Spain was expected to breeze through the match, with the European champion widely considered the favourite to win this year’s tournament.

Cape Verde on the other hand, had never played in a World Cup and had no high-profile professional players on its roster.

It was easily the most surprising result of the World Cup so far, which left one trader with extremely light pockets.

Spain’s odds of winning stood at an average of about 92 per cent.

If Spain had won, the trader in question would have only made about $120,000 on the original bet of over $1.5 million.

Polymarket users made a total of $90 million of trades on Spain’s game.

Well, that didn’t take long.

After Just’s go-ahead goal placed them New Zealand in the lead, Iran’s Mohammad Mohebbi quickly equalises the match.

Iran 2-2 New Zealand (64′ Mohammad Mohebbi)

Isn’t that just great!

New Zealand has retaken the lead early in the second half, with Elijah Just scoring his second goal of the game in spectacular fashion.

Iran 1 - New Zealand 2 (56′ Elijah Just)

Although FIFA won an emergency court hearing to have Iran’s pre-revolution flags banned from Los Angeles Stadium, dozens have been spotted for Iran’s World Cup opener.

Multiple protests in cryptic messages have also been spotted.

In the front row behind one goal, eight fans sitting consecutively brought one banner each to spell out “MINAB168”.

This is a reference to the killing of 168 children at an elementary school in southern Iran.

The banners were then confiscated before half-time by stadium personnel. There were also a smattering of fans with pre-revolutionary flags who booed the Iranian national anthem and erupted in celebration when New Zealand scored an early goal.

There were also many current Islamic Republic flags in the stadium and most fans have been cheering on the Iranian side.

Iran’s Ramin Rezaeian equalises the scores in the 32nd minute in Los Angeles with a great opportunity.

VAR has to check it and make sure it’s not offside, but they hand it to Iran. The crowd is roaring their approval.

Iran 1 - New Zealand 1

Iran’s national anthem, although sung by the players, had mixed reactions with the crowd in Los Angeles.

Fans were seen turning their backs to the pitch and multiple protests have already occurred outside the stadium pre-game.

Some areas of the stadium were heard jeering as the national anthem played out on the broadcast, mostly support and vocal support was heard as the players belted out the anthem.