Iran national football team in FIFA World Cup 2026 made a sudden departure from Los Angeles due to a disagreement with the US government. They drew 2-2 with New Zealand in their opening match. Iran's coach, Amir Ghalenoei, said that the team was expecting to stay in California for one night and return to Tijuana the next day. However, according to him, they were told to board the plane immediately after the game. Ghalenoei said: 'We didn't have time to recover. After the game today, they told us to leave immediately. It's very important for us to have time for recovery, but we were asked to get on a plane and return to our camp in Tijuana, and we were really troubled by that.'