{"id":488133,"date":"2026-06-21T07:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T07:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/488133\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T07:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T07:49:11","slug":"eli-just-staying-grounded-despite-world-cup-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/488133\/","title":{"rendered":"Eli Just staying grounded despite World Cup spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eli Just’s phone hasn’t stopped buzzing since his historic World Cup brace<\/a> against Iran, but the All Whites winger insists New Zealand’s strong start to the tournament hasn’t changed his mindset ahead of tomorrow’s Egypt clash.<\/a><\/p>\n

Just scored two goals<\/a> in New Zealand’s 2-2 draw with Iran on Tuesday, becoming one of the most notable performances<\/a> from the competition’s opening round. <\/p>\n

The 26-year-old admitted the attention in the days since had been difficult to process.<\/p>\n

“It’s been really incredible. It’s hard to put into words,” he told 1News. <\/p>\n

“My phone’s been blowing up, a lot of people congratulating me. It’s been really nice.” <\/p>\n

The brace briefly placed Just alongside some of the football’s biggest names in the competition’s scoring charts, with only Argentina’s Lionel Messi<\/a> ahead of him after the opening matches. <\/p>\n

While he described hearing his name alongside Messi, Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/a>, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane<\/a> as “surreal”, Just said individual accolades were secondary to the team’s overall success. <\/p>\n

“I don’t mind if it’s not me doing the scoring, as long as someone’s doing it, and we’re getting the points,” he said. <\/p>\n

NZ\u2019s World Cup hero scored two goals, placing him instantly among FIFA football greats. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

“At the same time I would love to keep scoring, but if any of the other lads, and I’m sure they will score goals, then they deserve some praise as well.” <\/p>\n

The result against Iran had boosted confidence within the New Zealand camp, but Just said the team had walked away with “mixed emotions” after the game. <\/p>\n

“Everyone was really happy, pleased with the performance. But you can’t help but feel disappointed that maybe the three points slipped away.” <\/p>\n

The team now remained focused on the challenge ahead. <\/p>\n

“We’ve stayed pretty grounded. We’ve not let the good result fool us into thinking that we’re just going to turn up and roll over any team,” Just said. <\/p>\n

“I think we still have a little bit of an underdog mentality, although we really believe in ourselves.” <\/p>\n

\"Eli<\/p>\n

Eli Just (11) celebrates scoring against Iran (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

All Whites motivated by home support<\/p>\n

Just said the players were aware of the support back home, where thousands of Kiwis tuned in in record numbers<\/a> to watch the All Whites play. <\/p>\n

“It’s been really special. All of the lads have been getting messages from people back home, just saying how proud they are,” he said. <\/p>\n

“When I was 10 years old watching the previous group at the World Cup, I know how inspired I was. <\/p>\n

“So hopefully there’s a few guys out there feeling pretty special.”<\/p>\n

The All Whites face an Egypt side<\/a> which boasts several notable football names, including Liverpool sensation Mohammed Salah. <\/p>\n

A win against the 28th world-ranked team would significantly strengthen the All Whites’ chances of progressing to the knockout stages \u2014 something New Zealand has never achieved before. <\/p>\n

Watch all matches at the World Cup with an event pass on TVNZ+<\/a> | All Whites games free-to-view on TVNZ1 and TVNZ+ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eli Just’s phone hasn’t stopped buzzing since his historic World Cup brace against Iran, but the All Whites…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2966,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-488133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}