Iran celebrates after scoring a second goal during a friendly soccer against The Gambia, Antalya, Turkey, 29 May 2026 -

Last updated: 40 minutes ago

Turkey

Iran came from behind to beat The Gambia 3-1 in a friendly match in Turkey on Friday just days before traveling to the FIFA World Cup in North America.

They trailed 1-0 at half-time before launching a second half comeback, with three goals in 20 minutes, including one by striker Mehdi Taremi who place for Greek club, Olympiacos.

The win comes as the team has had to move its base camp to Tijuan in Mexico despite the fact that all three of its group stage games are in the United States.

Amid the US’ war in Iran, players and officials are still waiting for their visas to enter the country.

Iran's football federation official and team coordinator, Mahdi Mohammad Nabi, said it is not their first World Cup and they were trying to “deal with challenges professionally”.

“We try to dedicate our attention to practising and things like that, we don't allow our players to enter these distracting conversations, their focus is on technical stuff," he said.

Winger, Mohammad Mohebbi, who plays for Russian club Rostov said it is always hard playing African teams as they “are physically well-prepared”.

“We had challenging practices every day. The team knows that we played this game while being tired, but thank God we were able to make up for it in the second half," he said.

Following the relocation of the team’s base camp from the US to Mexico, Iran has asked FIFA to clarify when their visas for the tournament visas will be issued.

The US State Department said in a statement on Monday that President Donald Trump had made it clear the Iranian team was welcome to participate in the tournament.

The team is due to play another friendly in the Turkish city of Antalya next Thursday, this time against Mali.

Iran’s first World Cup game is against New Zealand in Inglewood, California, on 15 June. The tournament runs from 11 June to the 19 July in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Iran waits for US visas as they prepare for World Cup friendly against The Gambia

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