Iran opened their politically-charged World Cup with a thrilling 2-2 draw with New Zealand with scorer Mohammad Mohebi accused of using a gun celebration after his goal.
New Zealand took the lead through Elijah Just in the early hours of Tuesday morning with Iran finding an equaliser shortly after the game’s first hydration break through Ramin Rezaeian.
Motherwell star Just scored his second of the game to put the All Whites on course to victory before Mohebi headed home just after the hour mark to level things again.
Mohebi, a winger for Russian club FC Rostov, ran off to celebrate before appearing to imitate a gun with his right hand, pretending to fire off shots into the air.
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The celebration was spotted by thousands on social media. Mohebi also celebration with love heart gesture after that initial incident.
Earlier in the contest, Iran’s anthem was jeered by some sections of the crowd at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Iran’s World Cup campaign comes amid a backdrop of war since the since U.S.-Israeli strikes on the country in February with travel to the US hugely disrupted in recent weeks.
Flags and shirts bearing Iran’s the pre-revolution ‘Lion and Sun’ emblem were banned from bring brought to the stadium but plenty were in evidence within the venue in the lead-up to kick-off.
Speaking after the game, Iran head coach Amir Ghalenoei claimed the squad and staff had been told they needed to leave LA immediately having planned to stay in California for a day of recovery.
Instead, they were to return to their base in Tijuana, Mexico.
‘They didn’t even give us time to recover after the game today,’ Ghalenoei said in Farsi, via FIFA’s interpreter.
‘They said to us, you have to leave immediately, whereas today, it’s very important for us to have time for recovery, but yet [we] have been asked to get on a plane and return to our camp in Mexico, in Tijuana, and we are really troubled by that.’