Iran's World Cup Begins in Turmoil: Players Ordered to Leave

The final whistle had barely faded at SoFi Stadium when Iran’s players were told to get out.

Not out of the dressing room. Out of the country.

A few hours after a breathless, politically loaded 2-2 draw with New Zealand on Monday night, Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei revealed his squad had been ordered to leave the U.S. immediately and fly back to its training base in Tijuana, ripping up carefully laid recovery plans for a World Cup campaign already drenched in turmoil.

“We were asked to get on a plane and return to our camp in Tijuana, and we are really troubled by that,” Ghalenoei said through an interpreter. “They didn’t even give us time to recover.”

He did not say who gave the order. That, too, hangs over this team like a cloud.

A World Cup played under fire

Iran’s World Cup has been shaped by forces far beyond football. The tournament sits in the shadow of the war launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran on Feb. 28, a conflict that cast doubt over whether Team Melli would even take part.

The federation asked FIFA to move its three group matches out of the U.S. FIFA said no. Iran came anyway.

The cost has been heavy. Key staff — including the president of Iran’s football federation, several coaching support staff and media officers — never made it. The U.S. denied them visas, leaving the squad stripped of familiar faces and essential support in a tournament where every detail matters.

Strain is everywhere you look. Iran captain Mehdi Taremi described a five-hour ordeal of travel and security checks just to make the short trip from Tijuana to the Los Angeles area on Sunday, a journey that should have been routine.

And then, after a draining opener, came the instruction that they had to turn around and leave.

“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.”

He laid out what had been agreed: arrive two nights before the game, stay in California after the match, then return to Mexico at lunchtime the next day. That plan vanished in a few post-game minutes.

“I think our team is perhaps the most oppressed in the World Cup,” he said.

Taremi did not disagree. “We have to leave Los Angeles right now, and it’s not good for us,” the captain 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.”

Cramped preparation, cramping players

On the pitch, the symptoms of a broken buildup were visible.

Iran, ranked 65 places above New Zealand, had to claw back from behind twice. Several players went down with cramps despite the mild conditions, forcing Ghalenoei into changes he insisted were driven by fatigue and injury, not tactics.

“Before the game, I said we haven’t had time to adjust because of the travel,” he explained. “Many of our players, they had cramps, and that’s why we had to substitute them. So it wasn’t for technical reasons.”

Now, he argued, the forced overnight travel back to Tijuana strips away what little recovery they had left.

“The fact they delayed our arrivals and they are forcing us to go back early without time for recovery, they are making the situation more difficult,” he said. The players will be examined by the technical staff on Tuesday, but the damage, he fears, is already being done.

A divided crowd, united for 90 minutes

Inside SoFi Stadium, the story felt different. At least for an hour and a half.

Los Angeles is home to the world’s largest Iranian population outside Iran, and the stands crackled with the tension of a diaspora torn between fury at the government and affection for the team that represents it.

Outside, several hundred Iranian Americans protested against the authorities in Tehran. Inside, some fans turned their backs during the anthem, jeered, and made their opposition clear.

Then the ball rolled, and the mood flipped. Once the match started, the vast majority roared for Team Melli, flags whipping, drums pounding, every Iranian attack greeted like a surge of defiance.

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

That energy mattered. Elijah Just struck early in each half for New Zealand, twice silencing the stadium. Twice Iran hit back with quality.

Ramin Rezaeian levelled in the first half with a deft finish off the side of his boot. In the 64th minute, with Iran trailing again, he delivered a perfect cross that Mohammad Mohebi met with a thumping header, sending the pro-Iranian crowd into a frenzy.

Mohebi’s celebration sparked its own storm. He appeared to mime firing a gun, a gesture that drew criticism online, before flashing the “ice in my veins” sign made famous nearby by Los Angeles Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell and then shaping his hands into a heart toward the stands.

“That celebration, it comes in the mind, and I did like this for all the fans,” Mohebi said, motioning to his arm. “Just a celebration.”

When it was over, players from both sides embraced and swapped shirts. Ghalenoei sat alone in the dugout for a moment, watching his team walk the perimeter of the pitch, applauding thousands of flag-waving supporters who refused to leave.

Tougher tests, heavier legs

For all the drama, the table is brutally simple. Iran, Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand each have one point after the opening round. On paper, Iran’s hardest work is still ahead.

Next up is Belgium in Inglewood on Sunday. Then comes a trip north to face Egypt in Seattle. Both opponents carry more pedigree than New Zealand. Both will sense vulnerability in a team stretched by politics, logistics and now, enforced travel.

Iran has never escaped the group stage at a World Cup. This was supposed to be a chance to change that, powered by a generation of players hardened in Europe and backed by a vast global fan base.

Instead, they are shuttling back and forth across a border, wrestling with cramps and confusion, asking why crucial decisions about their preparation are being made far from their own dressing room.

“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.”

The football, at least, offered hope. The question now is whether this team will be allowed the space to build on it — or whether the off-field turbulence will drag their World Cup down before it ever truly takes flight.