TIJUANA: Iran’s national football team was greeted Sunday in Mexico by a small group of supporters eager to give them a warm start to the World Cup, despite visa problems facing some staffers.
“I’m very excited to see them,” said Sadegh Galavi as he watched the players’ bus leave the airport in Tijuana, cheered on by about a dozen fans.
Galavi, a mechanic and resident of this city on the US border, did not hesitate to get up at dawn to welcome the team when it landed at 5:00 am.
“My national team is coming to my city, and being here is a small thing I can do just to welcome them,” the man in his thirties told AFP, proudly wearing the white jersey with green and red trim of the Iranian side, known as “Team Melli.”
The gesture felt especially important because the tournament is beginning under difficult circumstances for Iran.