US official says Iran knew team would have to leave the country shortly after World Cup match

AI Summary

The U.S. official stated that Iran's national team was informed they would have to leave the country shortly after their World Cup match as planned, despite Iran's complaint of being forced to leave immediately. The Iran coach claimed the team was ordered to depart quickly following their 2-2 draw with New Zealand.

The U.S. is pushing back on complaints from Iran's national team that it was forced to leave the country immediately after its first World Cup match instead of having a day to recover in a hotel, saying that was the plan for the team all along. “We were clear this was the process,” Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei said after Monday's night's 2-2 draw with New Zealand that the team had been ordered to leave the U.S. and return to its training base in Mexico only a few hours later.