World Cup 2026: Iran draws with New Zealand amid visa controversy

Day five of the 2026 World Cup produced a series of surprising results, headlined by Iran's 2-2 draw with New Zealand, a match that came after days of diplomatic turbulence over US visa difficulties for the Iranian squad.

Iran took to the field to boos from sections of the crowd following the controversy but managed to battle back and secure a point with an equalizer. The result keeps Iran's tournament hopes alive heading into the next round of group stage fixtures.

In the day's opening match, Spain was held to a historic draw by Cape Verde, giving the small Atlantic island nation a memorable point on the world's biggest footballing stage. The result will be remembered as one of the tournament's early upsets.

Saudi Arabia, who famously stunned Argentina in the opening match of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, continued their reputation as giant-killers with a 1-1 draw against Uruguay, another result that few had anticipated heading into the day.

Belgian lawmaker Darya Safai added a political dimension to Iran's World Cup debut on Monday, announcing she had carried the country's pre-revolution Lion and Sun flag into SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, in defiance of a FIFA ban on the symbol. Safai, who has been a vocal critic of the Islamic Republic, said she brought the flag into the venue during Iran's opening group stage match against New Zealand as a statement of solidarity with Iranians opposed to the current regime.

"No ideological flag can take the place of our Lion and Sun," she wrote in her X post. The Lion and Sun was Iran's national emblem before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and remains a widely recognized symbol of opposition to the Islamic Republic among the Iranian diaspora.