Iran Coach Decries ‘Oppression’ After Forced Exit from USA
Iran’s World Cup campaign began with drama both on and off the pitch as coach Amir Ghalenoei described his side as ‘perhaps the most oppressed team in the whole World Cup’ after being forced to leave Los Angeles immediately following their opening match.
Iran drew 2-2 with New Zealand at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Monday, a politically charged fixture that had been preceded by weeks of tension over the team’s participation.
Despite the spirited comeback, Ghalenoei expressed frustration that his players were ordered to return to their training base in Tijuana, Mexico, without time to recover.
‘We spent so much time in the air commuting, 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.’’
Captain Mehdi Taremi echoed the coach’s concerns, noting that FIFA president Gianni Infantino had visited the team in the locker room but suggesting that broader political issues were at play. Taremi also lamented that Iran’s football federation president Mehdi Taj and other staff members were barred from traveling to the U.S., calling the situation ‘a disaster.’
The match itself unfolded before a crowd of more than 70,000, many of them Iranian expatriates in Los Angeles. Fans displayed both pre- and post-revolutionary flags, despite FIFA’s ban on the lion-and-sun emblem, and roared in support when Ramin Rezaeian and Mohammad Mohebbi scored Iran’s goals.
