Iran’s footballers took to the training pitch in front of journalists Thursday at their base camp in Mexico, giving the world its first glimpse of a team whose participation in the World Cup has been overshadowed by war with the United States.

After having moved their training camp to Tijuana from the planned base in Arizona, the squad has said very little since arriving for the tournament last Sunday.

For Thursday’s training session, journalists were given fifteen minutes to see a small group of players as they ran through warm-up exercises.

Of the 26 members of “Team Melli,” only a dozen players were present, with star striker Mehdi Taremi among those who did not show.

Dressed in green jerseys, the players did some light jogging on the training pitch of the Xolos, Tijuana’s local club.

They then performed stretching and core-strengthening exercises on foam mats.

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Iran is scheduled to play its first match on Monday in Los Angeles against New Zealand.

A team official confirmed to AFP that the squad is set to enter the United States on Sunday and spend the night there ahead of the match.

Last week, Iran’s ambassador to Mexico told journalists the squad would only be allowed into the US on the day of their games and would have to leave straight afterwards.

Iran‘s participation in the tournament, which is being jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, comes three months after the US and Israel launched attacks on the country of around 93 million people, setting off hostilities that saw a large swathe of the Middle East drawn in, and the global economy shaken.

Thursday’s open practice came as US President Donald Trump announced what he said was a “great settlement” to end the war with Iran, saying he expected a deal to be signed in Europe as soon as this weekend.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Malaysian MMA fighter Jihin Radzuan and Canadian standout Anastasia Nikolakakos will cross paths on the global stage of ONE Championship on Friday, July 17.

The duo lock horns in an atomweight MMA tiff, which will be part of ONE Fight Night 45: Lessei vs. Rabah on Prime Video in the legendary Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

ONE Championship confirmed the bout on its official website earlier today.

This American primetime card will mark Jihin Radzuan’s 15th promotional appearance and an opportunity for ‘Shadow Cat’ to register a second straight triumph in ONE Championship.

In her last outing at ONE Fight Night 40 this past February, the Johor Bahru native put an end to her two-match skid, emerging with a pivotal win against undefeated Brazilian fighter Gabriela Fujimoto.

The victory earned the Foxgloves Fight Gym and Fairtex Training Center affiliate an 11th win after back-to-back losses to Macarena Aragon of Argentina and Japan’s Chihiro Sawada.

Before that, the Malaysian warrior racked up an impressive 8-3 slate in the world’s largest martial arts organization, two of her losses coming against eventual ONE women’s atomweight MMA world champions — Stamp Fairtex and Denice Zamboanga.

Her list of victims, meanwhile, includes former ONE world title challenger Mei Yamaguchi, Itsuki Hirata, Jenelyn Olsim, Bi Nguyen, and Jomary Torres.

Jihin brings a dangerous world-class arsenal, and she’s equally good on the canvas and in the striking department. She’s displayed her wide array of weapons in all facets of the discipline, and this trait should be her trump card against someone who moves as efficiently as Nikolakakos.

The undefeated Canadian returns just three months after a successful debut outing in ONE Championship.

At ONE Fight Night 41 this past March, she authored a first-round finish of Victoria Souza inside the Lumpinee Stadium, using her savage hands en route to a ground-and-pound win.

The 36-year-old moved to 6-0 with the win, and it should give her the confidence needed to overcome someone of Jihin Radzuan’s caliber.

Fans can expect an intriguing battle when these two collide in this high-stakes atomweight MMA showdown at ONE Fight Night 45 next month.

Jihin Radzuan vs. Anastasia Nikolakakos and all the fights confirmed for ONE Fight Night 45 so far

Luke Lessei vs. Mohamed Younes Rabah (Muay Thai – featherweight)

Suablack Tor Pran49 vs. Stephen Irvine (Muay Thai – flyweight)

Black Panther vs. Sean Climaco (Muay Thai – flyweight)

Bokang Masunyane vs. Lee Seung Cheol (MMA – strawweight)

Sanzhar Zakirov vs. Ruslan Satiev (MMA – flyweight)

Jihin Radzuan vs. Anastasia Nikolakakos (MMA – atomweight)

Lito Adiwang vs. Joshua Perreira (MMA – flyweight)