Serdar Dincel
16 June 2026•Update: 16 June 2026
Iranian National Football Team manager Amir Ghalenoei called his squad the "most repressed team in the whole World Cup," claiming they were ordered to leave Los Angeles for their training base in Mexico, shortly after their Monday night opening match against New Zealand.
Ghalenoei said the team had expected to remain in the California metropolis overnight and carry out a recovery session the next day, but were instead told immediately after the final whistle that they must return.
"We spent so much time in the air commuting, they didn't even give us time to recover," he said through an interpreter, according to US sports outlet ESPN.
"After the game today, they said to us: 'You have to leave immediately.'"
Ghalenoei did not say who had instructed the team to leave Monday night, although Iran captain Mehdi Taremi said FIFA President Gianni Infantino had visited the team in the locker room after Monday's game.
"For sure, he wants to try to help us, but it's about other things, too. Everyone knows it," Taremi stated, in an apparent reference to long-standing tensions between the US and Iran, even as the over 100-day war between the two is set to end with a peace deal this week.
"I don't need to mention that because you know where we are," he added.
The Iranian national squad was initially set to be based in Tucson, in the US State of Arizona, for the duration of the World Cup, but moved their camp to Tijuana, Mexico, in late May after facing logistical and visa issues.
