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After initially being scheduled to spend the night in Los Angeles after its World Cup opener on Monday, the Iranian men’s soccer team was ordered to leave the country as soon as possible.
Coach Amir Ghalenoei said it was ordered to leave the United States and return to its training base in Mexico just hours after opening its politically charged tournament by drawing 2-2 with New Zealand on Monday night.
Ghalenoei did not say who ordered the Iranians to leave earlier than planned. The team had expected to spend the night in California to maximize the normal recovery process after their opening game, only to be told after the game that everyone must immediately board a plane for the 140-mile trip back to Tijuana.
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The Iran national soccer team poses before the 2026 FIFA World Cup Group G match against New Zealand at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on June 15, 2026. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu)
“They didn’t even give us time to recover,” Ghalenoei said through an interpreter. “After the game today they said to us: ‘You must leave immediately.’ It’s very important for us to have time to recover, (but) we’re being asked to get on a plane and go back to our camp in Tijuana, and we’re really upset about that.”
Iran captain Mehdi Taremi said the team endured five hours of travel and security checks during what is normally a very short trip from Tijuana to the Los Angeles area on Sunday.
Members of the Iran national football team arrive by bus at the Marriott Hotel in Tijuana, Mexico, after their 2026 FIFA World Cup Group G match against New Zealand on June 15, 2026. (Carlos Moreno/Anadolu)
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“We don’t know why they’re returning us, to be honest,” Ghalenoei said. “I think it’s very strange. It seems that other people are doing the planning for us. The decision making for us is being done somewhere else. We were supposed to come two nights before the game and we were supposed to stay overnight to recover and come back tomorrow at lunchtime. We have no idea why.
“I think our team is perhaps the most suppressed in the World Cup.”
Taremi called on FIFA to offer further assistance.
“I think FIFA has to help us more than this… Everything is actually like a disaster for us,” he said.
Iran’s remaining two games in group play are against Belgium in Inglewood on Sunday, followed by a trip to Seattle to face Egypt next week.
Iran fans celebrate wildly as their team battle New Zealand for a World Cup draw. (Photo by Liza Rosales/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
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As several hundred Iranian-Americans protested against the government outside, many fans from the diaspora jeered and turned their backs on the field during the national anthem. Dozens of lion and sun emblems – the centerpiece of Iran’s official pre-1979 flag – were displayed in the crowd despite FIFA’s attempts to keep them away, while dozens more fans wore the lion and sun emblems on T-shirts.
