Iran team blames US for 'disastrous' restrictions at World Cup
Iranian football players have voiced frustration over recurring World Cup hurdles against their participation in the tournament, pointing to politically driven decisions by US authorities as the source of restrictions.
Team Melli have been subject to travel restrictions since the tournament kicked off last week.
Players and coaching staff say the travel schedules are impacting their match performance.
After their match with New Zealand in Los Angeles on Monday, the team was forced to fly back to their base camp in Mexico on the same day.
It was not the team’s choice to fly back, as they had planned to hold a recovery session in Los Angeles the next day, striker Mehdi Taremi and goalscorer Mohammad Mohebi said in press interviews.
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“They have said we have to leave immediately,” head coach Amir Ghalenoei added.
“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.
“Everything is like a disaster, actually, for us,” Taremi added.
The Iranian coach and players also noted that they were forced to fly to Los Angeles just one day before the match with New Zealand.
They had wanted to arrive two days prior, as the tight schedule left them with barely 24 hours in the city before kickoff.
Amid these hurdles, when the Iranian team arrived in Los Angeles, they were met by a small group of protesters from the Iranian diaspora carrying American, Israeli, and pre-revolution Iranian flags.
Fifa’s response
The visa issues and travel bans facing the Iranian team were put in place months before the tournament kicked off, as Taremi told reporters, adding that they are “just tired of this situation”.
Eleven staffers had been denied entry into the United States, an Iranian Football Federation official said.
“Our president isn’t here, our media isn’t here, many of our management team aren’t here,” Ghalenoei said.
Speaking during a post-match interview, players Taremi and Mohebi, alongside head coach Ghalenoei, voiced frustration over the obstacles to multiple journalists, even though Fifa officials tried to cut the interview short, according to The Athletic.
When asked about Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who he said had visited the team after their match, Taremi said: “For sure, he wants to try to help us, but it’s about other things too.
“You know, everyone knows. (I don’t) need to mention that, because you know where we are,” he added, hinting that US authorities were to blame.
“I know what you go through, I understand,” Infantino told the players when he visited their locker room and seemed to acknowledge some of the troubles, Iran’s news agency Tasnim reported.
“But you are stronger than everything, and you send a strong message to the entire world.”
Ghalenoei responded by mentioning the need for Fifa to be strong.
Both players and the head coach called the situation unfair and tiring, but said it will not stop them from performing at their best during matches.
“It’s not good for us, you know? It’s not good for football, because in a World Cup, you have to prepare well for the next game, because it is a lot of stress for the players, staff, and everyone. But we don’t have that support, and I think Fifa has to help us more than this,” Taremi told reporters.
Just days before the World Cup started, Iran's Football Federation had its ticket allocation, amounting to eight percent of the stadium's capacity, revoked by Fifa at the last minute, leaving most supporters unable to attend.
The Iranian federation blamed the US for Fifa’s action, saying: "The United States has now taken steps to obstruct the presence of Iranian supporters at the stadiums.
"The incident raises serious questions about the influence of non-sporting and political considerations on the organisation of the world's biggest football event."
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