FIFA president Gianni Infantino addressed Iran players in the locker room after their opening World Cup fixture.The team kicked off their tournament with a 2-2 draw against New Zealand in Los Angeles, after a build-up that had been heavily impacted by the conflict between the US and Iran.Infantino offered supportive words to the Iran team after their World Cup openerGettyHead coach Amir Ghalenoei hit out at both FIFA and the US government on Monday night, after being told his team needed to leave the West Coast city immediately after their opening game.The demand came despite Infantino’s visit to Iran’s locker room, in which he thanked the team for sending a ‘strong message to the world’ with their participation.Gianni Infantino’s locker room message to Iran leaked“Tonight was a tough game, with a bit more luck, you win,” the FIFA president told Iran’s players, in a video shared by Tasnim reporter Hatam Shiralizadeh.“You showed to your families, to your friends, to your people, to the world, that you are in the World Cup, that you perform, and that you have two more games to go.“In these two games, you will make, again, everyone in the world proud.“Thank you for being here.”Infantino, who has already been questioned over his ‘inclusive’ World Cup, went on to offer praise to Iran players for the ‘message’ they are sending to the world.He continued: “I know what you go through, I understand, but you are stronger than everything.“You sent a strong message to the entire world. You united the whole stadium here, you are sending such a strong message to the world, so thank you very much.“This is just the beginning of the World Cup. You are writing history, the whole world is watching.View Tweet: https://t.co/O9LZk0broy“Continue to play with your hearts, for your people and for everyone in the world that is falling in love with Iran.“Let’s go, you are stronger than everything.”How did the Iran team react to Gianni Infantino’s visit?Ghalenoei and Iran striker Mehdi Taremi both discussed Infantino’s locker room visit with reporters in Los Angeles, and suggested their team is the ‘most oppressed’ at this summer’s World Cup, despite the FIFA president’s promise to help.“They have said we have to leave immediately,” Ghalenoei said of being booted out of Los Angeles, despite team hopes for a recovery session in the area on Tuesday.“We are really troubled by that. We don’t know why they are returning us, to be honest. It seems very strange. It seems others are doing the planning for us.“Our team is the most oppressed one in the whole World Cup.”Both Iran striker Taremi (L) and coach Ghalenoei (R) hit out at the US and FIFAAFPAs well as being told to leave LA, Iran face ongoing troubles with US visas, and an Iranian Football Federation official said Sunday that 11 staffers had been denied entry into the host country.The team was also forced to move their training base from the US to Mexico for the tournament, despite playing all their games on American soil.“Our president isn’t here, our media isn’t here, many of our management team isn’t here,” Ghalenoei added.Taremi, meanwhile, offered a blunt assessment of the situation Iran faces.Taremi described Iran’s situation as ‘a disaster’ after their opening drawGetty“Everything is like a disaster, actually, for us,” he told reporters.“We’re just tired of this situation, because from two months ago, last month, we have a lot of problems, you know?“It’s so bad, and it affects our team.”Asked about Infantino’s locker room visit, which lasted for around 10 minutes, Taremi added: “For sure, he wants to try to help us, but it’s about other things too.Iran were forced to leave Los Angeles for Mexico hours after their gameGetty“You know, everyone knows. (I don’t) need to mention that, because you know where we are.”Iran returned to their base camp in Tijuana, Mexico, on a flight late Monday night.The team will have five days to prepare for their next Group G fixture, which will be played against Belgium back in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 21.Stay up to date on all things World Cup across our talkSPORT platforms – subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest news, opinion, exclusive interviews and our daily unfiltered, unscripted show ‘The S* Word, from 8am ET.