INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Iran manager Amir Ghalenoei said his team was told it needed to leave Los Angeles immediately following its 2-2 draw against New Zealand on Monday night.
Ghalenoei said he was not given a reason, and left unsaid who made the decision.
The Iranian team initially planned to stay in California after the game for recovery and return to its base camp in Tijuana, Mexico on Tuesday.
“They didn’t even give us time to recover after the game today,” Ghalenoei said in Farsi, via FIFA’s interpreter. “They said to us, you have to leave immediately, whereas today, it’s very important for us to have time for recovery, but yet [we] have been asked to get on a plane and return to our camp in Mexico, in Tijuana, and we are really troubled by that.”
Iran’s very participation in the World Cup was in question until the last minute due to its war with the United States and Israel.
Though it was originally slated to have base camp in Arizona, that was moved to Tijuana, and though all of its players — including captain Mehdi Taremi, who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — were given visas to travel to the United States, a number of support staff and Iranian journalists were not.
Taremi and Mohammad Mohebi told reporters in the mixed zone that FIFA president Gianni Infantino was in their locker room pregame promising help, though exactly what came from that was left unclear.
“Perhaps our team is the most oppressed one in the whole World Cup,” Ghalenoei said. “The head of the federation is absent. Our media isn’t here, our management, many of them aren’t here. We used to have part of the coaching team to help with substitutions, but we didn’t have that. … That’s why I think we are the most oppressed team in the World Cup.”
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Ghalenoei even went as far as implying that cramps suffered by Iranian players, including Taremi — who was substituted off in the 80th minute — were due to travel conditions.
“The fact that they delayed our arrivals, they are forcing us to go back early without time for recovery, they are making the situation more and more difficult, facing us with more hurdles,” he said. “We’re not gonna let that stop us from doing our best.”
