Iran twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with New Zealand in an exciting World Cup clash at Los Angeles Stadium on Monday, as protests against Tehran\u2019s government and a tentative agreement to end the United States (US)-Iran war formed a charged backdrop to the match.<\/p>\n
New Zealand took an early lead when Elijah Just volleyed home from inside the box after being set up by Chris Wood.<\/p>\n
The goal was celebrated by some fans critical of the Iranian government, many of whom carried Iran\u2019s pre-revolutionary Lion and Sun flag.<\/p>\n
Some also booed Iran\u2019s national anthem before kickoff.<\/p>\n
However, most of the crowd of more than 70 000 appeared firmly behind Team Melli, chanting \u201cIr-ran! Ir-ran!\u201d and erupting when Ramin Rezaeian equalised shortly after the half-hour mark.<\/p>\n
Rezaeian, one of several Iran players who had not played club football since February after the domestic league was suspended amid US and Israeli airstrikes, reacted quickest to a shot blocked by a defender and poked the ball past the advancing goalkeeper.<\/p>\n
Wood and Just combined again early in the second half, the New Zealand captain sliding a precise pass into the 26-year-old forward\u2019s path before Just hammered home to restore the All Whites\u2019 lead.<\/p>\n
Iran responded 10 minutes later with a super goal from Mohammad Mohebbi, who headed Rezaeian\u2019s perfect cross in off the far post to make it 2-2.<\/p>\n
Iran created better chances leading up to the final whistle but were unable to find a winner as the sun set over Southern California.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love my mom and dad. They always pray for me in difficult times, so this is for them,\u201d Rezaeian said.
\n\u201cAnd also for my people in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Reuters\u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":37255,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-37248","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Iran responded 10 minutes later with a super goal from Mohammad Mohebbi.","published_date":"","news_description":"Iran responded 10 minutes later with a super goal from Mohammad Mohebbi.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37249,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37248\/revisions\/37249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=37248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}