TEHRAN, JUN 7: Iran’s national football team arrived in Tijuana early on Sunday ahead of three World Cup matches in the United States, amid tensions that have turned the world’s biggest sporting event into a soft-power contest between the warring countries.

The squad touched down shortly after 5 a.m. (1200 GMT) in the Mexican city, across the border from San Diego, after an overnight flight from Turkey, where they have been training for the past three weeks.

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The Iranian federation negotiated at the last minute to move the team’s base camp from Arizona to Mexico, due in part to uncertainty over whether they would be granted visas to enter the US.

The US awarded visas to all the players on Friday, just 10 days before their first match, but several members of the support squad were not given visas, including “key managerial and administrative members,” according to Iran’s football federation.

Iran are scheduled to play their first two Group G games near Los Angeles, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21, and then face Egypt in Seattle on June 26.