{"id":107826,"date":"2026-06-16T13:22:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/?p=107826"},"modified":"2026-06-16T13:25:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:25:57","slug":"the-iranian-national-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/the-iranian-national-team\/","title":{"rendered":"A U.S. decision requiring the Iranian national team to leave immediately after playing its first match."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Iran national team head coach Amir Ghalenoei raised questions regarding the circumstances surrounding the movements of his team\u2019s delegation after their opening match in the World Cup, confirming that the squad was forced to leave the United States urgently and return to their accommodation base in Mexico only a few hours after a 2-2 draw against New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Ghalenoei explained that the team received instructions to leave U.S. territory immediately after the match ended, without revealing the authority that issued the decision or the reasons behind it, which further increased the ambiguity surrounding the incident.<\/p>\n

Cancellation of recovery plan and return to Tijuana<\/h2>\n

The original plan for the Iranian delegation was to stay an additional night in the state of California after the opening match, in order to give players the opportunity for recovery and physical rehabilitation according to the usual post-match program. However, these arrangements changed suddenly after the team was informed that it must head directly to the airport after the match and return to the Mexican city of Tijuana, located about 225 kilometers away.<\/p>\n

The Iranian coach expressed his dissatisfaction with this development, noting that the decision deprived players of the recovery period they were supposed to receive after a physically demanding match. He stated: \u201cThey did not even give us enough time to recover. After today\u2019s match we were told to leave immediately. It is very important for us to have recovery time, but we were asked to board the plane and return to our camp in Tijuana, and this is causing us many problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

These developments come within the context of the difficult conditions faced by the Iranian national team since the outbreak of the war on 28 February, events that affected the team\u2019s preparation and readiness for the global tournament. Despite all these challenges, Tehran decided to proceed with participation in the World Cup after FIFA rejected its request to move its three group-stage matches outside the United States.<\/p>\n

Ghalenoei: We do not know the reason for the decision<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ghalenoei confirmed that the coaching staff and players do not have a clear explanation for the reason behind the decision imposed on them after the match, noting that what happened remains a source of confusion within the Iranian delegation. He said: \u201cTo be honest, we do not know why they are sending us back. I think it is strange. I believe there are other people planning for us. The decision concerning us is being made elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the previously prepared program required the team to arrive in the United States two days before the match, then stay after the game for a recovery night before returning to Tijuana at noon the following day, but this plan was suddenly canceled without any official explanation. He continued: \u201cWe were supposed to stay this night for recovery and then return tomorrow (Tuesday) at noon. We have no idea why.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within this context, the Iranian coach expressed that his team feels it is being treated unfairly during the current tournament, saying: \u201cI think our team may be the most wronged in this edition of the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Iranian national team opened its World Cup campaign with an exciting 2-2 draw against New Zealand, showing strong fighting spirit after managing to come back twice and recover from behind, earning its first point in the tournament.<\/p>\n

The team now aims to move past the opening match and focus on its next fixture, where it will face Belgium on Sunday at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, in an important group-stage test, amid hopes of continuing competition despite the challenges and exceptional circumstances surrounding its participation in the World Cup.<\/p>\n

United News Network \u2013 UNN Arabic<\/strong><\/p>\n

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For more news, you can visit our homepage:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/un-news.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Author:<\/strong> Advisor Faisal Al-Mutairi.
Publication date:<\/strong> 16 June 2026.
Update date: June 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran national team head coach Amir Ghalenoei raised questions regarding the circumstances surrounding the movements of his team\u2019s delegation after their opening match in the World Cup, confirming that the squad was forced to leave the United States urgently and return to their accommodation base in Mexico only a few hours after a 2-2 draw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-107826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107826"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107829,"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107826\/revisions\/107829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/un-news.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}