Ben Jacobs saying obligation would be around £12m

Date: Saturday 15th August 2026 at 3pm

Venue: bet365 Stadium

Familiar Faces: Ethan Galbraith, Ben Wilmot

Teams

Stoke City

Viktor Johansson (captain), Luke Graham (Yellow 36'), Svante Ingelsson, Sorba Thomas, Ethan Galbraith, Ben Wilmot, Eric Bocat (Goal 10'), Bosun Lawal (Sub Talovierov 46'), Tomas Rigo, Sam Gallagher, Million Manhoef.

Substitutes: Josh Griffiths, Ben Pearson, Robert Bozenik, Bae Junho, Ben Gibson, Djibril Soumare, Maxi Talovierov, Freddie Anderson, Tyler Martin.

Swansea City

Lawrence Vigouroux; Filip Lissah (Yellow 53'; Sub Key 54'), Ben Cabango (captain), Stephen Welsh, Josh Tymon (Yellow 89'); Jay Fulton (Sub Walta 82'), Marko Stamenic, Elijah Just (Sub Widell 65'); Joseph Opoku (Goal 21'*), Moussa Yeo (Sub Eom 65'), Zan Vipotnik (Sub Idah 65').

Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Josh Key, Melker Widell (Yellow 84'), Jisung Eom, Tiago Parente, Leo Walta, Adam Idah (Goal 65'), Ronald, Carter Heywood.

Carabao Cup first-round

Date: Saturday 8th August at 3pm

Venue: Swansea.com Stadium

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Teams

Swans

Lawrence Vigouroux; Filip Lissah (Sub Key 62'), Ben Cabango (captain), Cameron Burgess (Yellow 62'), Josh Tymon; Marko Stamenic (Sub Eom 82'), Melker Widell (Yellow 20'; Sub Fulton 62'), Elijah Just; Moussa Yeo (Sub Walta 62), Joseph Opoku; Adam Idah (Sub Vitpotnik 62').

Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Josh Key, Jay Fulton, Zan Vipotnik, Jisung Eom, Tiago Parente, Leo Walta, Stephen Welsh, Ronald.

Blues

James Beadle, Christoph Klarer (captain), Phil Neumann, Carlos Vicente, Paik Seung-ho (Sub Gray 62'), August Priske (Goal 44'; Sub Vazquez 70'), Jhon Solis, Alex Cochrane (Sub Buchanan 46'), Tomoki Iwata, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Jay Stansfield (Sub Laird 70').

Substitutes: Ryan Allsop, Ethan Laird, Lee Buchanan, Demarai Gray, Scott Wright, Patrick Roberts, Dael Fry, Kristoffer Lund, Luis Vazquez.

Swansea City 0 - 1 Birmingham City

Carabao Cup first-round

Date: Saturday 8th August at 3pm

Venue: Swansea.com Stadium

Watch: Sky Sports+ 🇬🇧, Paramount+ 🇺🇸

Familiar Faces: Ethan Laird

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Teams

Swans

Lawrence Vigouroux; Filip Lissah (Sub Key 62'), Ben Cabango (captain), Cameron Burgess (Yellow 62'), Josh Tymon; Marko Stamenic (Sub Eom 82'), Melker Widell (Yellow 20'; Sub Fulton 62'), Elijah Just; Moussa Yeo (Sub Walta 62), Joseph Opoku; Adam Idah (Sub Vitpotnik 62').

Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Josh Key, Jay Fulton, Zan Vipotnik, Jisung Eom, Tiago Parente, Leo Walta, Stephen Welsh, Ronald.

Blues

James Beadle, Christoph Klarer (captain), Phil Neumann, Carlos Vicente, Paik Seung-ho (Sub Gray 62'), August Priske (Goal 44'; Sub Vazquez 70'), Jhon Solis, Alex Cochrane (Sub Buchanan 46'), Tomoki Iwata, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Jay Stansfield (Sub Laird 70').

Substitutes: Ryan Allsop, Ethan Laird, Lee Buchanan, Demarai Gray, Scott Wright, Patrick Roberts, Dael Fry, Kristoffer Lund, Luis Vazquez.

Carabao Cup first-round

Date: Saturday 8th August at 3pm

Venue: Swansea.com Stadium

Watch: Sky Sports+ 🇬🇧, Paramount+ 🇺🇸

Familiar Faces: Ethan Laird

Burgess's Australian went out on penalties to Egypt. This follows New Zealand and South Korea failing to make it out of the group.

FT: Iran 2 - 2 New Zealand

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Desktop note: best viewed on old.reddit.

Info	Details
Competition	2026 FIFA World Cup, Group Stage
Date	Mon, June 15, 2026
Venue	SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California, USA
Referee	César Arturo Ramos Palazuelos
Kickoff	9:00 PM EDT / 3:00 AM CEST
Status	FT

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LINE-UPS

Iran (4-4-2)

Starting XI	Notes	Subs	Notes
Alireza Beiranvand		Mehdi Ghayedi	🔄 on 45'
Ali Nemati		Ali Alipour	🔄 on 53'
Shoja Khalilzadeh		Hossein Hosseini
Milad Mohammadi		Roozbeh Cheshmi
Ramin Rezaeian	⚽ 32'	Alireza Jahanbakhsh
Saeid Ezatolahi		Amirmohammad Razzaghinia
Saman Ghoddos	🔄 off 65'	Saleh Hardani
Arya Yousefi	🔄 off 45'	Ehsan Hajsafi	🔄 on 65' · 🟨 89'
Mohammad Mohebbi	⚽ 64'	Payam Niazmand
Mehdi Taremi	🔄 off 80'	Dennis Dargahi
Shahriyar Moghanloo	🔄 off 53'	Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh	🔄 on 80'
		Mehdi Torabi
		Hossein Kanani
		Danial Iri
		Mohammad Ghorbani

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New Zealand (4-2-3-1)

Starting XI	Notes	Subs	Notes
Max Crocombe		Alex Paulsen
Michael Boxall		Ben Old	🔄 on 68'
Finn Surman		Jesse Randall	🔄 on 90'+2'
Liberato Cacace	🔄 off 68'	Callan Elliot	🔄 on 78'
Tim Payne	🔄 off 78'	Francis de Vries
Sarpreet Singh	🔄 off 90'+2'	Ben Waine
Marko Stamenic	🔄 off 90'+2'	Michael Woud
Joe Bell		Tyler Bindon	🔄 on 90'+2'
Chris Wood		Kosta Barbarouses
Elijah Just	⚽ 7' · ⚽ 54'	Tommy Smith
Callum McCowatt	🔄 off 68'	Lachlan Bayliss
		Nando Pijnaker
		Ryan Thomas	🔄 on 68'
		Alex Rufer

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MATCH EVENTS | via ESPN

7' ⚽ Goal! IR Iran 0, New Zealand 1. Elijah Just (New Zealand) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the high centre of the goal. Assisted by Chris Wood.

32' ⚽ Goal! IR Iran 1, New Zealand 1. Ramin Rezaeian (IR Iran) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner.

45' 🔄 Substitution, IR Iran. Mehdi Ghayedi replaces Arya Yousefi.

53' 🔄 Substitution, IR Iran. Ali Alipour replaces Shahriyar Moghanloo.

54' ⚽ Goal! IR Iran 1, New Zealand 2. Elijah Just (New Zealand) right footed shot from the right side of the box to the centre of the goal. Assisted by Chris Wood following a fast break.

64' ⚽ Goal! IR Iran 2, New Zealand 2. Mohammad Mohebbi (IR Iran) header from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Ramin Rezaeian with a cross.

65' 🔄 Substitution, IR Iran. Ehsan Hajisafi replaces Saman Ghoddos.

68' 🔄 Substitution, New Zealand. Ryan Thomas replaces Callum McCowatt.

68' 🔄 Substitution, New Zealand. Ben Old replaces Liberato Cacace.

78' 🔄 Substitution, New Zealand. Callan Elliot replaces Tim Payne.

80' 🔄 Substitution, IR Iran. Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh replaces Mehdi Taremi.

89' 🟨 Ehsan Hajisafi (IR Iran) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

90'+2' 🔄 Substitution, New Zealand. Jesse Randall replaces Sarpreet Singh.

90'+2' 🔄 Substitution, New Zealand. Tyler Bindon replaces Marko Stamenic.

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MATCH STATS

Stat	Iran	New Zealand
Expected Goals	1.54	1.24
Possession	48%	52%
Shots on Goal	4 (24%)	8 (57%)
Big Chances Created	1	2
Big Chances Missed	1	0
Accurate Passes	312 (77%)	377 (84%)
Duels Won	51	45
Saves	6	2
Fouls Committed	9	8

GROUP G

#	Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Iran	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	1
2	New Zealand	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	1
3	Belgium	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1
4	Egypt	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1

MATCH ENDED