INGLEWOOD, June 16 -- In the 64th minute, with Iran trailing again and the World Cup it had fought for months just to reach threatening to begin with a defeat, Mohammad Mohebbi did the thing his team had done all night. He refused to accept the scoreline. His finish leveled the match at 2-2 against New Zealand, rescued a point, and turned what could have been a miserable opener into a statement about a side that does not break easily.

That Iran was on the field at all was its own kind of victory. The team reached the United States only after a visa fight that left an IRGC carve-out hanging over the squad, and its supporters arrived to find that the United States had revoked thousands of their match tickets days before kickoff. The player...