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."
