Switching match would not derail team\u2019s preparations, says Australia-based winger Winger Barbarouses
\nLos Angeles
\nNew Zealand soccer players have said they would be willing to play Iran outside the United States in their opening match at the 2026 World Cup, as uncertainty persists over the fixture amid geopolitical tensions.
\nIran were one of the first nations to qualify for the finals but their participation has been in doubt since the US-Israeli conflict with the Islamic Republic broke out at the end of February.
\nTeam Melli are scheduled to play all three of their opening-round group matches in the US, with their June 15 opener against New Zealand in Los Angeles, but the Iranian soccer federation has threatened to boycott fixtures on US soil.
\nNew Zealand are preparing as if the Los Angeles match will go ahead but players said on Wednesday they could accommodate a switch outside the US if necessary.
\nNetherlands-based midfielder Ryan Thomas said Iran had earned their spot at the World Cup, and the All Whites would be able to manage the extra attention generated by the match.
\n\u201cThey deserve to be there as qualifiers,\u201d he told Reuters.
\n\u201cIf we\u2019ve got to play them in Mexico or Canada, then yeah, we play them there. It\u2019s not really a big deal for me.\u201d
\nDuring the June 11-July 19 World Cup, New Zealand will be based in the southern California city of San Diego, which is a short drive to the Mexican border.
\nMexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said last week her country would be open to hosting Iran\u2019s World Cup fixtures although the final say on any venue switch would be Fifa\u2019s.
\nAustralia-based winger Kosta Barbarouses said players would leave it up to \u201cthe people in charge\u201d to make a decision on the match, but did not think a switch would harm New Zealand\u2019s campaign.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think it would derail our preparation at all,\u201d he told Reuters.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got a base before our first game, anyway. So, yeah, I don\u2019t see why not.\u201d
\nSecurity worries
\nFifa has declined to comment on the possibility of switching the venues for Iran\u2019s games but said it was in contact with the Iranian soccer federation and looking forward to teams competing as per the current match schedule.
\nIran will also play Belgium in Los Angeles and Egypt in Seattle during the group phase.
\nBarbarouses, a 36-year-old father of two, acknowledged concerns about security for the New Zealand-Iran match in Los Angeles but said he trusted authorities to ensure the safety of players and their families as the All Whites play their first World Cup since the 2010 finals.
\n\u201cI understand there will be worries for people but I just think with the magnitude of the event, I would love to have family there,\u201d the Western Sydney Wanderers winger said.
\n\u201cI would feel safe for them to be over there. I don\u2019t think they\u2019d miss it.\u201d
\nThomas said the New Zealand players\u2019 nerves would be high before the match, but that was normal for any opener at a major tournament.
\n\u201cObviously there\u2019s a big buildup prior to the first game,\u201d the 31-year-old said.
\n\u201cSo it\u2019s going to be interesting to see how we deal with that, but I\u2019m confident in the group to deal with it on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Switching match would not derail team\u2019s preparations, says Australia-based winger Winger Barbarouses Los Angeles New Zealand soccer players have said they would be willing to play Iran outside the United States in their opening match at the 2026 World Cup, as uncertainty persists over the fixture amid geopolitical tensions. Iran were one of the first …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":95417,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95434,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95401\/revisions\/95434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}