Hundreds of anti-regime protesters gathered outside the stadium in Los Angeles where Iran will take on New Zealand in their opening game of the 2026 World Cup on Monday. Waving the flag used by Iran before the 1979 Islamic revolution, demonstrators beat drums and chanted slogans denouncing the national side, which they insist is a propaganda tool for Tehran. "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."