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INGLEWOOD, Calif. – They went home neither as winners or losers, but the point is, they went home. (Sort of.) That was not the plan for Iran’s national soccer team following their World Cup opener Monday night, but planning seems to be the most elusive ingredient of their participation in this tournament.
The bus with IR Iran across the side was waiting for the team inside LA Stadium following the 2-2 draw with New Zealand that left both tied atop Group G, ahead of Belgium and Egypt. The players, at one point, had anticipated that vehicle would return them to the hotel where they spent the night before this matchup.
Instead, they were ordered to return to their base camp in Tijuana, Mexico, immediately following the postgame activities: the mixed zone where players complained to reporters, the press conference where head coach Amir Ghalenoei again shared his frustration with the world.
“We don’t know why they’re returning us, to be honest,” Ghalenoei said through an interpreter. “It’s very strange. It seems like others are doing the planning for us. We were supposed to come in two nights before the game, and they didn’t permit it, and we were supposed to stay here tonight and recover. Our team is, perhaps, the most oppressed one in the whole World Cup.”
To be entirely accurate, there was a point where it did not seem as though would be permitted to enter until game day. That changed late last week, which Andrew Giuliani – who is in charge of World Cup issues for the White House – called a “goodwill gesture” that was ostensibly presented to allow Iran to compete on even terms.
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And so they did, although probably not in the way the Iranians had in mind.
They entered with the No. 20 ranking in the world and were matched against the No. 85 New Zealand squad, and twice Iran had to recover from deficits in order to salvage the draw. Which is not to say they played poorly; they also had one clear chance bang off the post and a goal erased because of an offside call. And this wasn’t an entirely miserable experience. They were loudly cheered by a majority of the crowd through much of the night, although several fans told Sporting News in advance they were there to support the team and not the government in place.
“Look, despite the circumstances, because of what we’ve been going through, I think our players were very dynamic, although they suffered from fatigue because of the commuting,” Ghalenoei said.
“This game and this atmosphere were actually a very important point … There were many Iranians here. They wholeheartedly encouraged us, and I think that is going to be a starting point.”
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Iran was behind inside 7 minutes, on the first of two goals from Elijah Just, who plays professionally in Scotland. But the most impressive player on the night, veteran Iran right back Ramin Rezaeian, scored to tie it in the 32nd minute by aggressively pursuing a rebound and placing it past goalkeeper Max Crocombe.
Iran had an advantage in shots, expected goals and touches in the opposing box, but the first their opportunities to win was misspent on a shot in the 23rd minute by striker Mehdi Taremi, who ignored several teammates on a clear break in order to launch his own shot and saw it slam into the right post and bounce harmlessly clear. And the second was blown in added time of the first half, when a free kick led to a header directly into the goal, but the assistant referee ruled Ali Nemati had jumped offside like a sprinter trying to beat the starter’s pistol.
“This is part of football. We have to sit tomorrow. We have to analyze our weaknesses and convert them to strengths,” Ghalenoei said. “It was one of the best games of our WC. The fans enjoyed it. It was a very good atmosphere. I have 50 years experience, and this time, the experience was very positive for me. I was very happy with the support, with the fans who were supporting the Iranian players.”
New Zealand never has won a World Cup game. This is their third appearance, along with 1982 and 2010, tying each game in the latter tournament but going home after group play. Head coach Darren Bazeley could not seem to decide whether he was more pleased with the team’s performance or disappointed they’d missed a chance to make history by failing to account for Iran’s right flank. An impressive switch from midfielder Saman Ghoddos on the left to to the opposite sideline put Rezaeian in position to send a perfect cross to Mohammad Mohebi, who headed it home.
“Second goal, we got sort of split in midfield, we couldn’t stop the cross and we don’t pick up in the box, which is disappointing because I thought the two center backs were outstanding throughout the game,” Bazeley said. “We came here to win, and today we were so close to making history.
“And hurts, because the game’s now finished. We got a point. We’re in the tournament. You see the table now: 1, 1, 1, 1, all four teams are in it. But it gets tougher.”
No doubt Iran would insist it’s tougher for them. It’s fairly standard for American sports teams to travel not long after a game, if they’re on a road trip and heading to another destination or if such a trip is complete and it’s time to return home.
For Iran, it seems to be more about the idea that they don’t know from day to day – or even inside a more compact time frame – what their schedule will be. Their training camp site wasn’t changed from Arizona to Mexico until weeks before the World Cup began. It wasn’t certain they would be in the U.S. on the day before the New Zealand game until Sunday, the day they traveled here.
Ghalenoei blamed some of his substitution decisions on cramping that affected players, most notably Taremi, who left after 80 minutes. The next game for Iran is Sunday against Belgium, again here in the LA area.
“We haven’t had time to adjust because of the travel, and many of our players, they have cramps, and that’s why we have to substitute them,” he said. “So tomorrow, they will be examined by our medical staff, and they will tell us which players will be ready to play. The delayed arrival, forcing us back, they are making the situation more difficult. We’re facing more hurdles, but we are not going to let that stop us from doing our best.”
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