❗️Iran World Cup team operates under heavy security in Mexico – The Cradle

 ❗️Iran World Cup team operates under heavy security in Mexico

Armed, masked men in helmets patrol the roads around Tijuana’s Estadio Caliente in open-top trucks, passing the entrance every few hours as they secure a large smog-filled city block in northwest Mexico that has become the Iran national team’s temporary, improvised World Cup base.

The heavy security has become routine in a region already used to strict controls at a stadium disliked by visiting domestic teams for its remote location and harsh artificial turf.

Iran had originally been set to stay about 644 kilometers away in Tucson, Arizona, at the Kino Sports Complex. Those plans were abruptly cancelled weeks after the US-Israeli war on Iran, leading to the team’s relocation to Tijuana amid wider geopolitical tensions.

Club Tijuana staff only learned of the move two weeks ago in a FIFA call and have since worked 18-hour days to prepare a facility with just one natural grass pitch. Security is strict: credentials are repeatedly checked, access is tightly controlled, and details on training times, filming, and media access are limited. The team is staying at a nearby hotel, but armed patrols and heightened secrecy remain in place.

Mexican fans and Club Tijuana staff have largely welcomed the team despite the disruption, putting up a banner reading “Iranian cheetahs, welcome to Tijuana” in Farsi and gathering outside the hotel to cheer players and request autographs.

“I’m ashamed of what the United States is doing,” one fan told AFP.

“It’s wrong… [the United States] treat everyone like terrorists,” said another.

When Iran travels to Los Angeles for a FIFA-mandated press conference on Sunday, it will do so without 15 support staff, including the entire media team, a federation official said. Asked who would handle media duties and player access after the World Cup opener against New Zealand, the official suggested it may fall to the kit manager.

(The Guardian & AFP)

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