Iranian team criticizes World Cup organization, says Gianni Infantino has promised to help (Gift Article)

Iran v. New Zealand ended around 8pm here in Los Angeles. At 10:07pm, Iran players were on a bus bound for the airport, forced by World Cup organizers to fly back tonight rather than stay + recover. “Everything is like a disaster for us," Mehdi Taremi said. Story from the scene @theathletic.com:

Iran v. New Zealand game ended ~8:30pm in LA and Iranian team had to get on a bus at 10pm to fly back to Tijuana as the World Cup organizers wouldn't let them stay overnight and recover for their next game in a few days, also in LA shame on FIFA www.nytimes.com/athletic/736...

Speaking after a 2-2 draw with New Zealand, Ghalenoei, striker Mehdi Taremi and goalscorer Mohammad Mohebbi said that they were being forced to fly back to their base camp in Mexico hours after Monday’s match here at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles.

It sure seems like Gianni needs to do a whole lot more to prove that soccer (and FIFA) are the world's game. “Our president isn’t here, our media isn’t here, many of our management team isn’t here,” said head coach Amir Ghalenoei. www.nytimes.com/athletic/736...

www.nytimes.com/athletic/736...