Iran's World Cup Turmoil Deepens After Forced Exit from U.S.

Iran arrived in Los Angeles chasing a smooth start to a turbulent World Cup. It left under orders, exhausted, angry, and back on a plane to Mexico before its players’ muscles had even cooled.

A 2-2 draw with New Zealand at SoFi Stadium on Monday night should have been about football: two comebacks, two fine goals, and a crowd that turned a U.S. arena into a slice of Tehran. Instead, the story broke away from the pitch the moment the final whistle blew.

Coach Amir Ghalenoei revealed that Iran’s squad was told it had to leave the U.S. immediately and return to its training base in Tijuana, scrapping plans to stay overnight in California and recover properly from its opening match.

“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.’”

The order, he said, did not come from the team. He did not specify who made the call. What he made clear was the impact: a squad already worn down by travel, politics and bureaucracy now forced back into the air for a 140-mile trip that turned into another logistical ordeal.

Iran’s World Cup has been shaped by forces far beyond tactics and team selection. Since the U.S. and Israel began a war against Iran on Feb. 28, the national side has operated in a permanent state of disruption. The federation asked FIFA to move its three group games out of the U.S.; the request was rejected. The team came anyway.

The journey into Los Angeles on Sunday underlined the strain. Captain Mehdi Taremi said what should be a short hop from Tijuana to the L.A. area turned into five hours of travel and security checks. By kickoff on Monday, the players were already playing catch-up with their bodies.

“We don’t know why they are returning us, to be honest,” Ghalenoei said. “It seems like others are doing the planning for us. The decision-making for us is being made elsewhere.”

Iran’s original plan was simple: arrive two nights before the opener, stay after the match, recover, fly back the next day at lunchtime. Instead, players were told to head straight for the airport. Recovery sessions, treatment, sleep — all pushed aside.

“I think our team is perhaps the most oppressed in the World Cup,” Ghalenoei said, summing up a mood that has simmered for weeks.

The problems do not end with travel. Iran is missing key figures from its usual World Cup entourage. The president of the country’s football federation, several members of the coaching support staff and media officials were all denied U.S. visas. For a major tournament, the team is moving with a skeleton operation.

Taremi did not sugarcoat it.

“We have to leave Los Angeles right now, and it’s not good for us,” he said about an hour after full time. “I think FIFA have to help us more than this. ... Everything is like a disaster, actually, for us.”

On the field, the toll showed. In mild conditions, several Iranian players cramped up. Ghalenoei pinned it on the lack of proper preparation time and the constant shuttling between borders.

“Before the game, I said we haven’t had time to adjust because of the travel,” he said. “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.”

Those players will be assessed by the technical staff on Tuesday, but the coach’s frustration was clear: delayed arrivals, forced early departures, and a schedule that keeps chipping away at his squad’s physical and mental reserves.

And yet, inside SoFi Stadium, for 90 minutes, Iran looked and felt at home.

A crackling, conflicted atmosphere wrapped around the match. Los Angeles, home to the world’s largest Iranian population outside Iran, turned out in force. Outside, several hundred Iranian Americans protested against the government in Tehran. Inside, many fans from the diaspora turned their backs and jeered during the national anthem, a visible rejection of the regime.

Once the ball rolled, the mood flipped. The vast majority roared for Team Melli. Flags shook, drums thudded, and every Iranian attack drew a swell of noise.

“It was an incredible atmosphere in the game, all 90 minutes,” Taremi said. “It was like at home for us.”

On the pitch, Elijah Just twice put New Zealand ahead, scoring early in each half. Each time, Iran clawed its way back.

The first response came from Ramin Rezaeian, who struck cleanly with the outside of his boot to level the match in the first half. The second came in the 64th minute, when Mohammad Mohebi ghosted into the box and met a perfect cross from Rezaeian with a precise header, sending the pro-Iranian crowd surging to its feet.

Mohebi’s celebration drew as much attention as his finish. He appeared to mime shooting a gun before flashing the “ice in my veins” gesture made famous a decade ago by then-Los Angeles Lakers rookie D’Angelo Russell, just a few miles from SoFi. He then formed a heart with his hands toward the stands.

Online criticism followed. Mohebi insisted it was nothing more than an impulsive tribute.

“The Iranians who live in Los Angeles, they make a great atmosphere,” he said. “That celebration, it comes in the mind, and I did like this for all the fans. Just a celebration.”

When it ended, the footballers behaved like footballers. Players from both sides embraced, swapped shirts, and shared handshakes. Ghalenoei stayed in the dugout, alone, watching as his squad formed a line and walked the perimeter of the pitch, applauding the thousands who had stayed behind, flags still waving, voices still hoarse.

The draw itself will sting. Iran, ranked far higher than New Zealand, expected more than a point against a side 65 places below it in the FIFA rankings. Twice they trailed, twice they hit back, but a 2-2 result leaves the group wide open and the margin for error slimmer.

All four teams — Iran, Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand — sit on one point after the opening round. On paper, Iran’s next two games are significantly tougher: Belgium in Inglewood on Sunday, then a trip north to Seattle to face Egypt next week.

The physical and logistical strain will not ease. The stakes will only rise.

“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.”

Now comes the real test: can a team that calls itself “perhaps the most oppressed in the World Cup” find enough clarity, and enough legs, to turn defiance into a first-ever escape from the group stage?