New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley brushed aside the political backdrop to his side’s World Cup opener against Iran on Monday, saying his players were focused solely on football despite heightened attention surrounding the match.
The Group G clash in Los Angeles comes after months of conflict involving Iran and a day after Washington and Tehran announced a framework agreement for a deal to end their war.
Asked about the wider significance of the fixture, Bazeley insisted New Zealand had prepared as they would for any other match.
“To be honest, we’ve treated it as a normal game,” he told reporters on Sunday. “We prepare the same for every international game that we play, and we’ve done nothing different for this game. For us, it’s a big game because it’s a World Cup game, and we want to do well here at the World Cup.”