Selección de fútbol de Irán opened its World Cup campaign with a 2-2 draw against New Zealand on Monday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
Ramin Rezaeian scored Iran's opening goal and later set up Mohammad Mohebbi, who finished in the 64th minute, while New Zealand's Elijah Just struck early in each half to bookend the match and keep the score level.
The match was played before a large Iranian expatriate presence at SoFi Stadium, where supporters and demonstrators were visible outside the arena; Iran had chosen to compete after FIFA rejected its request to move its three group-stage matches outside the United States, and the squad had relocated its tournament training base from Arizona to Tijuana.
The result matters on the pitch and in the hours that followed. Coach Amir Ghalenoei said Iran expected to spend the night in California for normal postgame recovery but was told instead to leave the United States just hours after the final whistle. "No nos dieron siquiera tiempo de recuperarnos," he said, adding that "Después del partido de hoy nos han dicho: ‘deben irse de inmediato’. Es muy importante para nosotros tener tiempo de recuperación, pero se nos pide subir a un avión y volver a nuestro campamento en Tijuana, y eso nos causa problemas." After the match it was reported that everyone was ordered to board a plane immediately for Tijuana.
That abrupt instruction breaks from the usual routine teams follow after an opening match and raises practical concerns about recovery and preparation: Iran moved its base to Tijuana during the tournament precisely to manage logistics, yet the timing of this departure compresses rest and recovery that would normally follow a demanding opener.
The explicit source of the order to leave the United States has not been identified, creating a clear and consequential gap between what the team expected and what happened hours after kickoff. Iran now heads back to its Tijuana base, but the missing answer — who ordered the immediate departure — is the pivotal question for the squad's medical and competitive planning as it prepares for the remainder of the group stage.
