At the Marriott in Tijuana, Mexico, Iranian fans gathered to cheer on their team during the World Cup while the hotel entrance was barricaded and flanked by police and members of the Mexican National Guard, with no one allowed in without a hotel reservation or special permission. The scene laid bare the familiar architecture of control: a four-star hotel turned into a checkpoint, and ordinary people sorted by permission slips, badges, and armed enforcement.
Who Gets to Move, Who Gets Stopped
The hotel sits less than 150 miles (240 kilometers) from Los Angeles’ World Cup stadium, but access was tightly controlled. The entrance was barricaded, and police and members of the Mexican National Guard stood by as fans tried to gather near the team. No one was allowed in without a hotel reservation or special permission. The restrictions framed the visit not as a simple sporting moment but as a managed space where authority decided who could enter and who had to wait outside.
Inside, the mood was described as relaxed and jubilant as several dozen fans mingled and waited to see the squad’s players before they departed for their second group-stage match. Lucas Zarrabi, 13, said, “I wanted to come down to support Iranian soccer, and cheer for them when they exited the building and make them happy.” He said he attended Monday’s 2-2 draw with New Zealand and had a ticket for Sunday’s match against Belgium. The people at the bottom of the spectacle were the ones doing the waiting, the cheering, and the emotional labor.
The Cost of the Restrictions
Other fans came from Los Angeles, San Jose, California, and Miami. Abbas Eftekhari, who was born in Iran and has lived in the U.S. for more than 40 years, said, “Every little technicality is making it difficult for the team,” and added, “I think this is going to drain them psychologically and also physically.” The technicalities were not abstract; they were the rules and barriers imposed around the team’s movement, with the burden falling on players and supporters alike.
Iran’s soccer federation said it would lodge a complaint with FIFA. Hedayat Mombeini, secretary-general of the Iran Football Federation, said Friday, “Football shouldn’t lose its power to politics,” and added that the restrictions “are certainly having a negative effect on us, but we are trying to overcome these problems with our Iranian pride.” The complaint route ran through FIFA, another institution with its own gatekeeping power, while the people affected were still left to absorb the consequences.
Since the team landed on June 7, Ali Eslami had visited the hotel gates nearly every day. Eslami said, “It’s the best pleasure for me. I wished them the best luck, I told them it’s hard but they’re doing excellent things,” and later said, “I have been in America for 50 years — this has been the most emotional thing, to see the team that I have not seen in 50 years.” His repeated visits showed the persistence of fans who make their own pilgrimage to the gates when official access is restricted.
Fans, Protest, and the Managed Spectacle
Some Iran fans feared reprisal from fellow members of the diaspora for supporting the team. Eftekhari said the mood at Iran’s first match, where fans and protesters clashed, had a negative psychological effect on the players. He said, “As soon as they see that their countrymen have slogans against them, it also has a negative psychological effect on them. But, that’s how things are at this time.” The clash showed how even the crowd around the game can be split by politics and pressure, with players and supporters caught in the middle.
A group of flight attendants from China staying at the hotel also joined the atmosphere, wearing jester hats and waving scarves with red, white and green. Soccer fans from Tijuana were eager to show local hospitality. Abolfazl Pasandideh, the Iranian ambassador to Mexico, said, “We love the Mexican people very much and for us, the best situation is for our games to be held in Mexico.” Leonardo Ramirez Lopez, a 10-year-old soccer fanatic from Tijuana, said, “It’s a new team that I don’t have experience with how they play,” and said Iran was already his third-favorite team, behind Colombia and Argentina.
After more than two hours of waiting, several dozen fans cheered as players filed through the lobby. The squad smiled and waved, stopping for autographs. As each player left, he kissed a Quran and pressed his forehead against it before boarding the bus to Tijuana’s airport. Fans then cried, “Iran, Iran! Whoop, whoop!” and broke into song. Even in a moment built around celebration, the armed perimeter and the permission structure remained the backdrop, reminding everyone who controlled the space.