While no agreement has yet been found to end the war in the Middle East, it is in a tense geopolitical context that the Iranian selection must disembark this Sunday on American soil. Having established its base camp at the last minute in Tijuana, Mexico, rather than in Tucson, Arizona, as initially planned, Team Melli is expected in Los Angeles this afternoon on the eve of its World Cup debut against New Zealand. A press conference is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. local time at SoFi Stadium, located very close to the international airport where the players should land from Tijuana, after a flight of around twenty minutes.
In the City of Angels, also nicknamed “Tehrangeles” because of the large Iranian diaspora estimated at 500,000 people, the selection should be loudly welcomed. Calls to demonstrate on Monday in Inglewood around this ultra-modern stadium with 70,000 seats were also launched to wave the flag of Iran before the Islamic revolution, when the green, white and red banner was decorated with a lion and a sun.
The threat of a stoppage of the match in case of protest
Some protesters could also invite themselves inside the enclosure and boo the Iranian anthem, as in Qatar in 2022, raising the threat of tensions over the meeting. Iranian Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali warned that Iran would particularly monitor “flags and slogans”, threatening to stop the match in the event of symbols hostile to the Islamic Republic.
Our file on the 2026 World Cup
On Saturday, the president of the Iranian football federation Mehdi Taj also recalled that Fifa had to ensure that only the Iranian flag in its Islamic Republic version would be visible in the World Cup stadiums. Iran must play its three Group G matches in the United States, the second also in Los Angeles on June 21 against Belgium, and finally the third in Seattle on June 26 against Egypt.
