The Iranian squad were forced onto a plane back to their Mexico training base just hours after their 2-2 draw with New ZealandIran’s World Cup campaign got off to one of the most politically charged starts in the tournament’s history on Monday night, as the team drew 2-2 with New Zealand at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, only to be told immediately after the final whistle that they had to board a plane back to Mexico.
Coach Amir Ghalenoei confirmed that the squad, who had expected to spend the night in California to allow for standard post-match recovery, were ordered to return to their training base in Tijuana within hours of the game ending. He did not say who issued the instruction.
“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, we are asked to get on a plane and return to our camp in Tijuana, and we are really troubled by that.”
The turmoil did not begin after the match. Captain Mehdi Taremi revealed that the team endured five hours of travel and security checks for what is ordinarily a short journey from Tijuana to the Los Angeles area the day before the game.
Iran had initially been due to arrive two nights ahead of kick-off but were delayed by bureaucratic obstacles. Several players suffered cramps during the match, which Ghalenoei attributed directly to the lack of proper preparation time.
“Many of our players, they had cramps, and that’s why we had to substitute them,” the coach said. “So it wasn’t for technical reasons that we made substitutions. It was because of the injury and because of the cramp.”
Iran’s participation in the tournament had been thrown into serious doubt after the United States and Israel began a bombing campaign against the country in February, and FIFA rejected Iran’s request to move its group-stage matches out of the US.
The coach of Iran’s World Cup team said it was ordered to leave the U.S. and return to its training base in Mexico only a few hours after opening its politically charged tournament by playing to a 2-2 draw with New Zealand on Monday night. (Photo by Shaun Clark/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
“I think our team is perhaps the most oppressed in the World Cup”
Key staff members, including the president of Iran’s football federation and several coaching and media officials, were denied visas entirely.
“I think our team is perhaps the most oppressed in the World Cup,” Ghalenoei said.
The match itself was played in an extraordinary atmosphere. Los Angeles is home to the world’s largest Iranian population outside Iran itself, and the crowd at SoFi Stadium reflected the deep divisions within that diaspora.
Iran’s national anthem was met with audible boos from sections of the crowd, and some fans turned their backs on the field during it.
Dozens of Lion and Sun flags, the symbol of Iran’s pre-revolution era, were on display despite FIFA winning a legal case earlier in the day to have them banned from the venue.
But those same fans largely roared Iran on once the match kicked off.
Fan Keyan Jafari, who wore the Lion and Sun emblem, told LBC he wanted the players to know he stood with them as Iranians regardless of the regime. “We don’t know what they put those players through,” he said. “I want them to know that I still stand for them as long as they are Iranian and they stand with us.”
On the pitch, Iran twice came from behind. Elijah Just scored early in each half for New Zealand, but Ramin Rezaeian and Mohammad Mohebi replied, with Mohebi’s header in the 64th minute earning a point in front of a stadium that had largely become a home end by the second half.
“It was an incredible atmosphere in the game, all 90 minutes,” Taremi said. “It was like at home for us.”
Iran face Belgium next Sunday before taking on Egypt in Seattle. With all four teams in the group level on one point, their fate remains very much in their own hands, if the conditions around them allow it.
2026 World Cup results so far
Monday, June 15
Group H: Spain vs Cabo Verde, 0-0
Group G: Belgium vs Egypt, 1-1
Group H: Saudi Arabia vs Uruguay, 1-1
Group G: Iran vs New Zealand, 2-2
Sunday, June 14
Group E: Germany vs Curacao, 7-1
Group F: Netherlands vs Japan, 2-2
Group E: Ivory Coast vs Ecuador, 1-0
Group F: Sweden vs Tunisia, 5-1
Saturday, June 13
Group B: Qatar vs Switzerland, 1-1
Group C: Brazil vs Morocco, 1-1
Group C: Haiti vs Scotland, 0-1
Group D: Australia vs Turkey, 2-0
Friday, 12 June
Group B: Canada vs Bosnia & Herzegovina, 1-1
Group D: USA vs Paraguay, 4-1
Thursday, 11 June
Group A: Mexico vs South Africa, 2-0
Group A: South Korea vs Czech Republic, 2-1