US says Iran was always supposed to fly back to Mexico immediately after World Cup match, despite coach’s complaints

By Priscilla Alvarez, Kyle Feldscher, CNN

(CNN) — The Iranian men’s soccer team’s quick departure from Los Angeles following its opening World Cup match was always the plan, according to the US government, despite complaints from the team.

Iran’s coach and players made it clear they were upset with having to fly back to their training base in Tijuana, Mexico, late on Monday night following a 2-2 draw with New Zealand. Coach Amir Ghalenoei said his team expected to spend the night in California before flying back to Tijuana, but were told to get on a plane immediately after the game.

“They didn’t even give us time to recover,” Ghalenoei said, according to the Associated Press. “After the game today, they said to us, ‘You have to leave immediately.’ It’s very important for us to have time for recovery, (but) we are asked to get on a plane and return to our camp in Tijuana, and we are really troubled by that.”

In an interview that CBS News aired Monday, Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the task force, said the team would depart “the evening of the match.”

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told CNN that the Iranians agreed to those terms.

It’s the latest back-and-forth between Iran and the United States over the World Cup as the months-long armed conflict between the two nations complicates the summer sporting extravaganza.

While a framework agreement aimed at ending the conflict is expected to be signed later on this week, Iran faces the unprecedented situation of competing at a World Cup inside of a nation with which it is at war. That’s made the team’s preparation for the tournament difficult, including a last-minute training base relocation from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana.

For months, there was speculation that Iran wouldn’t actually end up playing in the World Cup in protest over the war and the Iranians were at one point in discussions to move their games outside of the US. In the end, they showed up and will play their three group games in the US as scheduled – Monday’s draw and Sunday’s showdown with Belgium in Los Angeles and then a matchup against Egypt in Seattle on June 26.

Still, the team has had to endure visa issues, with members of their delegation not allowed into the United States for their games, the Iranian ticket allotment being revoked by FIFA, travel bans for many Iranian fans who may have hoped to travel to the USA for games and conflicted feelings among the diaspora in the US have all made it a difficult tournament so far for Team Melli.

While the US government says the plan may have always been for the Iranians to return to Tijuana directly after the match, it appears the team itself was caught off-guard.

“We don’t know why they are returning us, to be honest,” Ghalenoei said, per AP. “I think it’s very strange. It seems like others are doing the planning for us. The decision-making for us is being made elsewhere. We were supposed to come two nights before the game, and we were supposed to stay tonight to recover and return tomorrow at lunchtime. We have no idea why.

“I think our team is perhaps the most oppressed in the World Cup.”

CNN has reached out to FIFA for comment on Iran’s late-night departure from Los Angeles.

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