Iran coach slams FIFA after being ordered to leave the US right after opening match
Iran's head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, has sharply criticized FIFA after his team was forced to leave the United States immediately following their opening match at the tournament, according to multiple media reports including ESPN, the New York Times, the Guardian, and the BBC.
Iran finally took the pitch on Monday at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, drawing 2-2 with New Zealand in a match that unfolded against a backdrop of heightened tensions between the two countries. But the result was quickly overshadowed by a last-minute change to the team's travel plans.
Ghalenoei began his postgame news conference by expressing his frustration that the team's scheduled return to their training camp in Tijuana, Mexico, had been accelerated without warning.
"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.'"
According to ESPN, Iran's base camp had already been moved to Tijuana from Arizona weeks before the tournament, despite all three of their group stage matches taking place in the United States. The team had been scheduled to fly into the US two days before each game and depart the following day. However, after arriving in Los Angeles on Sunday, their travel plans were altered once again following Monday's match.
Iran forward Mehdi Taremi echoed the coach's frustrations during the press conference.
"Everything is like disaster, actually, for us," Taremi said, adding that FIFA President Gianni Infantino had visited the team in the dressing room, where they expressed their concerns directly to him, according to the Guardian.
Ghalenoei did not hold back in his criticism of FIFA's handling of the situation.
"I think our team is the most oppressed one in the whole World Cup. Our federation isn't here, our media isn't here, our management isn't here," he said.
