Iran’s head coach Amir Ghalenoei says the country’s World Cup team is ordered to leave the United States soon after its opening group-stage match against New Zealand ended 2-2 in Los Angeles on Monday. Multiple outlets report that the team is told to depart shortly after the final whistle and return to its training base in Tijuana, Mexico, rather than being given time to recover from the match. Ghalenoei also describes the situation as “oppression,” with one account quoting him calling Iran the “most oppressed team in the whole World Cup.” CBS News similarly reports that he says officials did not allow the team time to recover before ordering them to go. Euronews adds that captain Mehdi Taremi characterizes the event as a “disaster for us.” The reports attribute the immediate departure to instructions from U.S. officials and place the episode within a broader context of political tensions and protests described by some outlets, though specific reasons for the order are not detailed in the accounts.