Iran’s football team arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday after a short flight from Tijuana, Mexico, where they left their World Cup base camp earlier to a rousing sendoff ahead of their opening match against New Zealand.
The A320 aircraft touched down on runway 25L at 4:11pm ET (2011GMT) under sunny skies at the airport, which is about 15 minutes from the Los Angeles Stadium that will host Iran’s World Cup opener on Monday.
The team were expected to head to their hotel where a police security presence was already in place.
Coach Amir Ghalenoei and striker Mehdi Taremi are scheduled to take part in a press conference at Los Angeles Stadium.
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The squad’s Group G fixture against New Zealand will be played against the backdrop of the US war with Iran, adding a charged atmosphere to a contest between two nations who have never met at the World Cup.
Iran moved their World Cup base camp from a sports complex in Arizona to Mexico late last month after the US and Israel conducted joint strikes on Iran beginning in late February.
This is the first World Cup since its inception in 1930 in which a host nation is set to receive a country it is at war with.
Members of the Iranian American community have planned to gather near Los Angeles Stadium later on Sunday to protest what they called the Iranian government’s ongoing human rights abuses.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)
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