Iran national team forced to leave US immediately after their 2026 World Cup first match

The Iranian national team was forced to leave the US immediately after their first match in the 2026 FIFA World Cup group stage.

In the match held in Los Angeles, Iran drew 2-2 with New Zealand.

The Iranian team's base camp is in Tijuana, Mexico, which is 225 km from Los Angeles.

Iran will play their second match on Sunday, again in Los Angeles.

"They didn’t even give us time to recover after the game today. They said we had to leave immediately.
“It’s very important for us to have time for recovery and yet we were asked to return to Tijuana and we are really troubled by that.

“We do not know why they are returning us. I think it’s very strange. It seems like others are doing the planning for us; decisions are made elsewhere. We were supposed to arrive two nights before the game and we were not permitted; we were supposed to stay tonight and return tomorrow lunchtime but I have no idea why, and they haven’t told us.
“Our team is the most oppressed one in the whole World Cup.

“The federation is absent here. Our media isn’t here. Our management team, many of them aren’t here. We used to have a part of a coaching team to help with substitutions but we didn’t have that. Many in the technical area had to deal with that," Iran national team manager Amir Ghalenoei said.

Iran will also play their third group-stage match in the US, playing against Egypt on June 26.

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