Published on 6/16/2026
Iranian national football team coach Amir Qala Nooyi said that his team was asked to leave the United States and return to the team’s headquarters in Mexico just a few hours after opening its tournament campaign with a 2-2 draw with New Zealand.
Qala Nooyi did not clarify who issued the order to the Iranians to leave American territory early.
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The Iranian national team was planning to spend the night in California to take advantage of the natural recovery period after the opening match, before it was informed after the match of the necessity of heading immediately to the airport and returning to Tijuana, which is about 140 miles away.
Criticism of Iran’s coach
“They didn’t even give us enough time to recover,” Qala Noyi said through a translator. “After today’s match they told us you have to leave immediately. It’s very important for us to have time to recover, but we were asked to get on the plane and return to our camp in Tijuana, and this is causing us a lot of trouble.”
The Iranian national team has been in a state of turmoil since the outbreak of war between the United States and Israel on one side and Iran on the other on February 28. Despite this, Iran decided to participate in the tournament after the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) rejected its request to transfer its three group stage matches outside the United States.
“To be honest, we don’t know why they’re sending us back. I think it’s strange. I think there are other people planning for us. Our decision is being made elsewhere. We were supposed to arrive two days before the match, stay tonight to recover and then come back tomorrow at noon. We have no idea why,” Kala Nooyi said.
He continued: “I think that our team may be the most exposed to injustice in this edition of the World Cup.”
For his part, team captain Mehdi Taremi, along with coach Qala Nooyi, criticized the absence of a number of important officials and workers from the Iranian delegation, including the president of the Iranian Football Federation and members of the technical staff and media officials, after the United States refused to grant them entry visas, which made the team’s preparations more difficult.
Taremi said about an hour after the end of the match: “We have to leave Los Angeles immediately, and this is not good for us. I think FIFA should help us more than that. In fact, everything seems like a disaster to us.”
The Iranian national team opened the World Cup with a disappointing draw, despite its success in coming back twice and scoring the equalizer through Mohammad Mohebi in the 64th minute, in front of fans who were mostly supportive of Iran.
The Iranian national team will meet in the next match with Belgium next Sunday at SOFI Stadium.
