The story before a ball is kicked
Iran arrive in Group G as the mid-tier seed with 0 Premier League players in their squad. New Zealand share that group as the underdog seed with 0 PL regulars.
The two meet directly in the group stage. The result is critical — Group G's order through R32 is decided across just three matchdays, and head-to-head between equally-ranked teams is the second tiebreaker after points.
The pre-match weight of evidence leans Iran's way clearly. Below: a six-dimension head-to-head, the Premier League club distribution per squad, and the Onside verdict.
Build your XI for each side — share, save, replay
Tap eleven players for each nation. Pitch visualises your selections (4-3-3 schematic). Saved on this device so you can return to refine. Hit Share to post both XIs to X.
Iran vs New Zealand — where each one wins
Each row scores the two teams 0–100 on a dimension. Longer bar = stronger. The colour-coded chip on the right names the winner of each axis.
Edge to Iran · clearly
- ·Iran sit #21 in the FIFA world ranking — 64 places clear of New Zealand.
| Axis | Iran | New Zealand | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form | 80 | 15 | IRN +65 |
| PL footprint | 0 | 0 | level |
| Host edge | 0 | 0 | level |
| Group seed | 75 | 25 | IRN +50 |
| Confed | 50 | 35 | IRN +15 |
| Experience | 58 | 19 | IRN +39 |
Get the World Cup brief in your inbox — plus early FPL 2026/27 picks
Match-by-match predictions, captain picks for World Cup Fantasy, likely scorers, and the first FPL 2026/27 differentials to watch. Same engine that powers our Premier League tools, pointed at the world's biggest pre-season.
Weekly digest
Captain picks, transfer tips & differentials — every week.
One email per gameweek. Unsubscribe any time.
Tracking the World Cup? Use the same engine for FPL 2026/27.
v5 depth-2 GBT stacker · 51k+ OOS predictions · MAE 1.92. Captain picks, MILP squad optimiser, AI Coach, set-piece intel — the production Premier League tools.