Iran player speaks out after being accused of controversial World Cup celebration
One of Iran's goalscorers has explained his celebration after being accused of a controversial gesture following the country's opening World Cup fixture against New Zealand.
After a highly turbulent build-up to the tournament which included visa problems and a change of base amid the conflict with the United States, Iran finally took to the pitch at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Monday.
Amir Ghalenoei's side kicked off proceedings in Group G with a 2-2 draw against New Zealand, coming from behind on two occasions to pick up a point.
Ramin Rezaeian and Mohammad Mohebi were both on target for Iran, who received a visit from FIFA president Gianni Infantino in the dressing room afterwards.
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Mohebi levelled matters in the 64th minute and celebrated by placing two fingers to his arm.
He then proceeded to wag his right hand in the air, with many convinced that his celebration was a gun gesture to the crowd and a reference to the conflict involving Iran and the US.
The incident sparked huge reaction on social media and afterwards, the Rostov winger denied that there was anything untoward in how he celebrated scoring his first goal in the World Cup.
"First, I wanted to say thank you to all the Iranian fans that came to watch in Los Angeles. They made a great atmosphere in the game," Mohebi stated.
"The celebration was just coming in the mind, in the moment. I do it like this [gestures with his hands] and I wanted to do it like this for all the fans. It's just a celebration you know, and that's it."
While Mohebi was adamant that there was no agenda, fellow scorer Rezaeian admitted that his celebration did have a political motive behind it.
After he found the net with Iran's first goal of the tournament, Rezaein pulled his shirt over his face.
“It’s something political (his goal celebration)," he explained.
"I don’t want to talk about that. We are here to answer football questions. If there is a problem between us (the Iranian people), it is between us.”
Iran manager lets rip after team forced to leave US immediately after game
Ahead of the tournament, Iran's request to have their games moved to Mexico was rejected by FIFA.
However, they were then permitted to relocate their training base from Tuscan, Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico.
Their first game took place in Los Angeles, around 55 minutes flight time away from Tijuana. But while the team were expected to remain in California overnight and recover, they had to hop on a flight to return back to their base straight after the game.
Ghalenoei was left stunned by his team being forced to head back so soon and being "troubled" by the decision.
“After the game today they said to us, ‘You have to leave immediately,’” he stated.
“Whereas today it’s very important for us to have recovery.
“We’ve been asked to get on a plane and return to our camp in Tijuana and we are really troubled by that. They are forcing us to go back early. They are making the situation more and more difficult, more hurdles, but we’re not going to let that stop us from doing our best."
He added: “We don’t know why they’re returning us, to be honest. I think it’s very strange.
"It seems like others are doing the planning for us. We were supposed to arrive two nights before the game but they didn’t permit [it]. We were supposed to stay here tonight to recover and return tomorrow lunchtime."
With their unprecedented situation and treatment, Ghalenoei said his team are "the most oppressed one in the whole World Cup" as he highlighted the country's federation, media and management being missing.
Iran's next game is also at the SoFi Stadium as they taken on Belgium on Sunday. Their final encounter with Egypt takes place on Friday 26 June in Seattle.
Topics: FIFA World Cup
Josh Lawless