Iran’s World Cup campaign opened with a thrilling 2-2 draw against New Zealand — and within hours, the team was ordered onto a plane back to its training base in Mexico, denied the recovery time every team depends on after a competitive match. Head coach Amir Ghalenoei said he was not told who issued the directive.
“They didn’t even give us time to recover,” Ghalenoei said through an interpreter. “After the game today, they said to us, ‘You have to leave immediately.’ It’s very important for us to have time for recovery, but we are asked to get on a plane and return to our camp in Tijuana, and we are really troubled by that.” The team had planned to spend the night in California before making the 140-mile trip back across the border. Instead, they were told to leave within hours of the final whistle.
The disruption is the latest chapter in a World Cup cycle that has been in upheaval since the United States and Israel began a war against Iran on February 28th. Iran ultimately chose to compete after FIFA rejected its request to relocate its three group-stage matches outside the US. Captain Mehdi Taremi described the team’s journey from Tijuana to Los Angeles the previous day as a five-hour ordeal involving extensive travel and security checks for what is normally a brief crossing.
“We don’t know why they are returning us, to be honest,” Ghalenoei said. “I think it’s very strange. It seems like others are doing the planning for us. The decision-making for us is being made elsewhere. We were supposed to come two nights before the game, and we were supposed to stay tonight to recover and return tomorrow at lunchtime. We have no idea why. I think our team is perhaps the most oppressed in the World Cup.”
Missing Staff and Cramping Players
Both Ghalenoei and Taremi pointed to a deeper problem affecting their preparations — the absence of key personnel, including the president of Iran’s football federation, coaching support staff, and media officials, all of whom were denied US visas. “We have to leave Los Angeles right now, and it’s not good for us,” Taremi said roughly an hour after the match. “I think FIFA have to help us more than this. Everything is like a disaster, actually, for us.”
Several Iranian players developed cramps during the match, played in mild conditions that should not have produced fatigue of that severity. Ghalenoei attributed the physical problems directly to the lack of proper preparation time caused by travel and bureaucratic obstacles. “Many of our players, they had cramps, and that’s why we had to substitute them. So it wasn’t for technical reasons that we made substitutions. It was because of the injury and because of the cramp.”
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A Charged Atmosphere at SoFi Stadium
The match itself unfolded against a remarkable backdrop. SoFi Stadium sits near the largest population of Iranians outside Iran, and the crowd reflected the complicated relationship between the diaspora and the current Iranian government. Several hundred Iranian Americans protested outside the stadium. Inside, many fans turned their backs and jeered during the national anthem, while dozens displayed the Lion and Sun emblem — the centrepiece of Iran’s pre-1979 flag — despite FIFA’s efforts to keep the symbol out of the venue.
Once the match began, the same crowd that had protested the government became overwhelmingly supportive of the players on the pitch. Elijah Just scored early in each half for New Zealand, but Iran answered twice with goals from Ramin Rezaeian and Mohammad Mohebi, the latter coming from a perfectly weighted Rezaeian assist in the 64th minute. “It was an incredible atmosphere in the game, all 90 minutes,” Taremi said. “It was like at home for us.”
Mohebi’s celebration drew its own attention online, mixing a gun-shooting mime gesture with the now-widespread “ice in my veins” pose originated by Los Angeles Lakers rookie D’Angelo Russell roughly a decade earlier, before holding up a heart to the crowd. “The Iranians who live in Los Angeles, they make a great atmosphere,” Mohebi said. “That celebration, it comes in the mind, and I did this for all the fans. Just a celebration.”
Iran now faces a difficult path through the group stage. Belgium awaits in Inglewood on Sunday, followed by a trip to Seattle to face Egypt. All four teams in the group — Iran, Belgium, Egypt, and New Zealand — sit level on one point apiece after the opening round. “We’re facing more hurdles, but we’re not going to let that stop us from doing our best,” Ghalenoei said. “I think today was one of the best games in the World Cup so far, and I think the fans really enjoyed it inside the stadium and outside the stadium.”
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