INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Monday, June 15. Day 5 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood was packed to the gills with supporters in green jerseys, singing in Spanish and carrying flags representing their hometowns. You would’ve been forgiven for thinking it was a Mexico match.
It wasn’t. It was the opening game of the tournament for the Islamic Republic of Iran, but Mexico came out in numbers to give Iran a much-needed boost.
Iran’s World Cup opener, a tough-to-predict, evenly matched fixture against New Zealand, was happening under near-impossible political circumstances. Iran’s fans were banned from entering the United States; its base camp was moved to another country at the last minute out of an abundance of caution.
Its players, hampered by needless visa restrictions, hadn’t been able to sleep in California the night before. They’d driven up from their temporary home in Tijuana that morning and walked straight off the bus and into the most important match of their lives.
Those Mexico supporters were there to help Iran through it. It was a heartwarming reminder of exactly the kind of cross-cultural brotherhood the World Cup breeds at its best.
A logistical nightmare
The sporting relationship between Mexico and Iran began in late May, when the Iranian national team moved its World Cup base camp from Tucson, Ariz., to Tijuana, Mexico, amid tensions between the Iranian and American governments.
The move threw Iran’s World Cup preparations into disarray. Being based in Mexico forces Iran to travel to the United States for each of its group stage games, and visa restrictions on its staff mean the travel must occur on the day of the game itself. When Iran opened its World Cup account against New Zealand, it was forced to arrive hours before the game and leave for Mexico directly after it. No rest, no recovery.
“We get tired, you know?” Iran winger Mohammad Mohebi said. “I think it’s supposed to be we came here two days before the game. This kind of thing, I think, it’s not a little bit fair, no?”