Iran's footballers took to the training pitch in front of journalists Thursday at their base camp in Mexico, giving the world its first glimpse of a team whose participation in the World Cup has been overshadowed by war with the United States. After having moved their training camp to Tijuana from the planned base in Arizona, the squad has said very little since arriving for the tournament last Sunday. For Thursday's training session, journalists were given fifteen minutes to see a small group of players as they ran through warm-up exercises. Of the 26 members of "Team Melli," only a dozen players were present, with star striker Mehdi Taremi among those who did not show. Dressed in green jerseys, the players did some light jogging on the training pitch of the Xolos, Tijuana's local club. They then performed stretching and core-strengthening exercises on foam mats.
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Cover image: Se instalan parches de césped para usarse como parte del campo del SoFi Stadium, antes del torneo de fútbol de la Copa Mundial de la FIFA, en Inglewood, California. 13 de mayo de 2026. REUTERS - Caroline Brehman
