Iran and New Zealand shared the points after a 2-2 draw for their opening game in Group G, leaving it all even after the first round of fixtures, with all teams on one point a piece.
New Zealand got off to a fast start, finding Chris Wood with a direct ball forward who was able to bring Elijah Just into play, scoring after just seven minutes.
Iran hit back with a goal in the 32nd minute through Ramin Rezaeian, continuing his run into the box and staying with the play, profiting from a ricochet in the box and stabbing it home.
The second half didn’t disappoint, as New Zealand took the lead once again after 54 minutes with a lovely combination goal from their front line, before Iran hit back just 10 minutes later, making it 2-2 in the 64th minute and eventually securing them a point.
In this article, we’ll cover
New Zealand’s fluid front four
New Zealand’s build up and attacking organisation was extremely brave and aggressive, with both full-backs pushing on to provide width.
This allowed both wide players to come narrow, creating a narrow three behind Wood up front.
Their first goal came from a deeper build up scenario, with both full-backs pushed on high, the two centre-backs splitting either side of the goalkeeper and the two central midfielders staying lower to attract the central press and help the build.
Iran looked to lock on with a man to man press, giving New Zealand a 5v5 on the last line, with the direct pass being aimed towards Wood.
Wood was able to bring it down, turn and bring Just into play, accelerating quick combination movement between those two and Sarpreet Singh, leading to a goal.
New Zealand’s second goal also highlighted these principles, with the front four being in close proximity to one another for quick combination play affordances.
Callum McCowatt received the ball through a diagonal entry pass from Liberato Cacace, funnelling an attack inside towards the three forwards in close proximity.
A third man combination including Singh and Just provoked a defensive behaviour (jump) from the Iran left-back (Milad Mohammadi), opening space for Just to carry into once receiving the pass from Singh.
Just then utilised Wood who was ahead of him, bouncing a pass off of him to engage the nearest defender, opening space for Just to receive the return pass with enough space to get his shot away, scoring the goal and making it 2-1.
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New Zealand rest defence tradeoff
Now all tactical choices have a trade off, which is down to the coach to navigate and adjust as they see fit.
New Zealand’s tactical trade off came in the shape of their rest defence, as in the opposition half, they were extremely brave with the number of bodies they commited.
With the narrow front four in central channels, the two full-backs high and wide and one midfielder often commiting slightly ahead of the other, gaps were there for Iran to hit in transition.
With New Zealand looking to utilise their fluid front line to open central channels to combine, the big risk was a turnover in a central area.
Iran had a number of transitions in the first half especially, one where Mehdi Taremi was unfortunate to hit the post at 1-0.
Iran’s left-sided saviours
Rezaeian managed to provide the true moments of quality from right-back in the game for Iran, scoring the goal in the first half and providing the assist for Mohammad Mohebbi’s goal in the second half.
The Iranian right-back’s role was often to hold width on the left, allowing Mohebbi to drift inside and occupy the right half space.
But for his goal, Rezaeian received on the touchline, then opting to drive inside and find a diagonal entry pass to the top of the box.
Rezaeian didn’t stop there, he then continued his run into the box, arriving with momentum as a first time return pass into the box was played, despite the ball not being intended for him, the determination to arrive with the play was rewarded, as the right-back cleverly dispatched his chance on the bounce with a stabbed curled finish past the keeper.
The Iranian right-back was heavily involved again for the second goal to make it 2-2, receiving a switch of play from the overloaded left side.
Due to his side being underloaded, Rezaeian was able to get the ball out of his feet, get his head up and deliver a pinpoint cross, with Mohebbi heading it home off the post to secure a point for his country.
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