{"id":536373,"date":"2026-07-21T05:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T05:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/536373\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T05:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T05:52:10","slug":"eli-just-earns-nomination-for-world-cup-goal-of-the-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/536373\/","title":{"rendered":"Eli Just earns nomination for World Cup goal of the tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

All Whites winger Elijah Just has been nominated for the FIFA World Cup’s goal of the tournament for his spectacular volley against Iran,<\/a> becoming the first Kiwi to be shortlisted for the award. <\/p>\n

Just\u2019s goal is one of 12 selected by FIFA, and is up against goals scored by some of football\u2019s biggest names including Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi. <\/p>\n

The 26-year-old enjoyed a breakout World Cup campaign,<\/a>, scoring three goals<\/a> for the All Whites including his nominated strike which came during New Zealand’s 2-2 draw with Iran. <\/p>\n

During the sixth minute of the match, Just flicked the ball up before unleashing a powerful right-foot volley into the back of the net to give New Zealand their first goal of the World Cup. <\/p>\n

The 24-year-old kick-started New Zealand’s campaign with a nice volley in the early stages against Iran. (Source: TVNZ)<\/p>\n

Speaking after the match, Just said it was “really, really special”<\/a> to score in a World Cup match. <\/p>\n

“It’s not something that I could have ever dreamt of,” Just said at the time. <\/p>\n

“I’m just so happy. One was nice, and to do it twice is just amazing.”<\/p>\n

The description for the goal on FIFA’s website read: “New Zealand’s Elijah Just and Chris Wood proved a deadly duo in this superbly worked effort.” <\/p>\n

Also in contention for the award are Ferran Torres\u2019 extra-time winner for Spain<\/a> in the World Cup final, Mbapp\u00e9’s rocket group-stage goal against Senegal and Jude Bellingham’s clever finish against France in the third-place playoff. <\/p>\n

The winning goal will be decided by a fan vote, with fans able to vote for the winner on FIFA\u2019s website.<\/a><\/p>\n

TVNZ announced today<\/a> it had secured the rights to screen the 2030 tournament. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Whites winger Elijah Just has been nominated for the FIFA World Cup’s goal of the tournament for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2965,2966,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-536373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all-whites","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\/536373","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=536373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}