Iran’s national team left North America on Tuesday after a World Cup run shaped as much by U.S. officials as by the scoreboard, with repeated disputes over visas, travel, and who would even be allowed near the team. The players departed from their World Cup home in Mexico after three group-stage matches ended in draws, and fans said they should be proud.
Mohammad Modarres, 38, who traveled from San Diego to bid the team farewell, said, “I think even though they lost, it gave people a sense of hope.” That’s the part the officials never control. The people do.
Who Gets to Move, Who Gets Stopped
Iran’s future depended on Algeria or Austria winning their match on Saturday after the team’s three group-stage matches ended in draws. The players watched from the lobby of their Tijuana hotel and erupted in celebration when Algeria took the lead in stoppage time. Kimia Ranjbar, 25, a lifelong fan of Team Melli who had driven down from the Los Angeles area, said, “I’ve never seen a room explode like that.” Minutes later, Austria tied the game again, leaving the lobby in dismayed silence.
Off the pitch, the apparatus of control kept grinding. Iran’s request to move its matches to Mexico was denied, its base camp was relocated from Arizona, and the U.S. refused to grant visas to key members of the Iranian team’s staff. The U.S. also rejected Iran’s request to travel to the U.S. two days before its Los Angeles matches, though it relaxed some restrictions for Iran’s last match. The tournament’s public language is sport. The machinery underneath is border power.
During a World Cup security briefing Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters that the U.S. had made several accommodations for Iran’s travel and repeated assertions that many of the people Iran originally requested to travel with the team to the U.S. were associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. “I’m just glad they’re done and they’re not coming back,” Mullin said, adding that he “might have sung a song or two or maybe even danced a happy dance.” FIFA did not respond to request for comment.
The Iranian team answered in a statement to The Associated Press on Monday, saying Mullin’s remarks showed a lack of commitment to international law and the basic standards expected to host a global tournament. “The fact that he openly celebrates Iran’s elimination says far more about him than it does about our team. It reflects a level of pettiness that cannot even tolerate the presence of a football team competing on the world’s biggest stage,” said the team, which declined requests to interview players and staff.
What People Built Around the Team
Before decamping Tuesday, the team thanked Mexico and Tijuana for their “kindness” but questioned its treatment at the tournament by the U.S. “What we experienced was a series of decisions, logistical arrangements, and circumstances that undermined the sense of fairness — an impression only reinforced by the events of the final matchday of our group,” the team said in a statement.
Members of the Iranian diaspora were divided about whether supporting the team showed tacit backing for Iran’s theocratic government, which many of them oppose. Some wanted to keep politics and sports separate. “You don’t see someone screaming at (U.S. soccer star) Christian Pulisic for something Trump does,” Modarres said.
The team avoided commenting directly on the war, but it spotlighted the victims of a deadly missile strike on an elementary school at the start of the conflict. Players wore pins with the number “168” when they first landed in Mexico, referencing the number of people, mostly children, killed in the attack, which was likely launched by the U.S. They left a note in the locker room at Los Angeles Stadium calling for peace “among all nations” and using the hashtags #168 and #minab, the school’s name.
Sherry Ghaemi, an Iranian living in Los Angeles, called their stand for the young victims “honorable.”
There were also high points on the field. Goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand made seven saves to hold Belgium to a scoreless draw, and Ramin Rezaeian scored off the outside of his boot to equalize against New Zealand. “They’re going home not as losers, they’re going home as winners,” said Ghaemi. “We’re proud of them.”
Meeting some of the players was a thrill for Siavash Khosrowshahi, a 32-year-old Iranian American who drove from Los Angeles to Tijuana on Sunday, the day after the team was eliminated. “It’s been really tough and stressful,” Khosrowshahi said of the months since the U.S. and Israel started the war. There were times during the conflict when he couldn’t reach his parents in Tehran, but not Sunday, when he called his mother from the hotel and surprised her by putting Beiranvand on the phone. “It’s a source of happiness for her,” he said.
Iranians and Mexicans also deepened a bond as Tijuana embraced the team throughout its visit. Fans chanted, “Irán, hermano, ya eres Mexicano!” whenever they saw Team Melli: “Iran, brother, now you are Mexican!” Arely Ramírez, a Tijuana resident who turned up at the team’s hotel Sunday hoping to meet some of the players, said, “Iran is taking home the best of our country, and this city, which is the way in which outsiders are received.”
Head coach Amir Ghalenoei said Tuesday through an interpreter before the team left for the airport, “We’re leaving Tijuana today, but our heart and soul stay here.” On Monday, many players still looked solemn as they passed their last hours in Mexico. A few signed final autographs and stood for photos with fans, their smiles more muted than the week before. Despite the disappointment, some supporters were already looking ahead to the AFC Asian Cup six months away. “This whole year has been bad events, bad luck after bad luck” for Iranians, said Ranjbar. “But the AFC Asian Cup is six months away, a new chance for Team Melli. I’ll be watching them play for that.”
Germany’s Federation Looks for Scapegoats
Germany’s World Cup campaign ended in another early exit, with the team losing Monday to unheralded Paraguay on penalties after surviving the group stage for the first time since winning the trophy in 2014. Germany had been tentatively hoping for a fifth World Cup title to restore lost pride.
“We messed it up,” Joshua Kimmich told reporters after the match in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The Germany captain, who also struggled for explanations after the team’s group-stage exit at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, said, “As a child, when you watched the national team during tournaments, it was always semifinals, finals, or world champions. There was always lots of success. You grew up with that, cheering them on.” He added, “All of us who were on the pitch should feel that, rather than looking to blame someone else. We blew it,” in comments reported by dpa.
Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann came under fire after contentious calls, especially after recalling veteran goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from international retirement just before the tournament after months of denials. The 40-year-old Neuer failed to justify his inclusion at the expense of Hoffenheim’s Oliver Baumann and was arguably at fault for Ecuador’s winning goal in the last group game. “I gave it my all,” Neuer said.
Nagelsmann also drew criticism for not playing forward Nick Woltemade until extra time against Paraguay, and Woltemade was among three players who missed in the penalty shootout. Nagelsmann had given forward Deniz Undav his first start against Paraguay, but the move did not pay off as the Kurdish Yazidi player was unable to add to his three goals and two assists from his first two games as a substitute.
Nagelsmann had raised expectations by saying Germany was aiming to win the title, but the team played four games and won only two, against debutant Curaçao and Ivory Coast, before losses to Ecuador and Paraguay. Paraguay’s win was celebrated on the streets of Asunción and was considered a major shock. Few German fans knew any of the Paraguayan players before the match, and they were already looking forward to a likely Round of 16 meeting with France, which plays Sweden on Tuesday.
“You have to beat such a team,” Neuer said of Paraguay. “That’s a fact when you want to measure yourself against teams like France.”
Nagelsmann has vowed to stay on as coach, though he was criticized for his prickly responses after the game. Germany team director Rudi Völler said, “I’m still convinced that he’s probably the right one to continue. It’s not only up to me.”
Bernd Neuendorf, the president of the German soccer federation, said Tuesday he already met “at length” with Nagelsmann, Völler and sporting director Andreas Rettig, and they agreed “our performance at the World Cup fell short of our standards.” Neuendorf said, “In the coming days, we will calmly look at the reasons why the team was unable to realize its potential and failed to meet both its own expectations and those of the German football community. After such a crushing blow, we cannot and do not wish to simply return to business as usual.” Nagelsmann has a contract running through the European Championship in 2028.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote on social media, “What a match, @DFB_Team! You thrilled our country with your commitment and team spirit at this World Cup. We’re proud of you.” He was quickly mocked on X, where many users asked which match he was referring to, and the words “which match” began trending. FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann wrote, “I honestly don’t know which was worse. The match or this analysis.”