Iran's World Cup campaign began in Los Angeles in a blaze of goals and controversy Monday, with hundreds protesting against a team they see as stooges for an extremist government in Tehran.A boisterous protest greeted fans arriving at SoFi stadium in Los Angeles, with demonstrators waving the pre-revolutionary flag detested by the leaders of the Islamic republic."This team is not the Iranian people's team, it's the regime's team," said Ava Amin, a philosophy student who came to demonstrate with a banner calling for "regime change." "When the people get murdered, they ignore it and stay silent," she told AFP.On paper, the large Iranian community in Los Angeles -- which is sometimes nicknamed Tehrangeles -- could have made "Team Melli" feel as if they were playing a home game in their frenetic 2-2 draw with New Zealand.But a significant portion of the diaspora in California is fiercely opposed to the Islamic republic and wants to use the attention generated by the World Cup to highlight what they say are abuses committed by the military-backed clerics who have held power for 47 years."It's the mullahs' team, so we can't support them," said Gilbert Gastin, an Iranian-American who has lived in exile for 20 years. - Anthem -The 44-year-old construction worker said he was there to protest the bloody crackdown on popular demonstrations in Iran in January -- a crackdown that left thousands dead, according to numerous NGOs.