The coach of Iran’s national team has once again hit out at the travel issues affecting the team at the World Cup, saying that his squad has been “robbed” of a chance to properly acclimate before games.
Following a 2-2 draw with New Zealand, head coach Amir Ghalenoei complained that his team — which were told to fly back to its training base in Mexico afterwards — were not given proper time to recover. Ghalenoei told reporters that the team planned to spend a night in California, while the U.S. government said their same-night departure had always been the plan.
Now, Ghalenoei has bemoaned the fact that his team couldn’t fly back into Los Angeles until Saturday ahead of a Sunday clash against Belgium. The coach acknowledged that FIFA president Gianni Infantino “did his utmost” to charter a flight a day earlier.
“They [FIFA] phoned me and said: ‘Are you ready if we get you a flight at 6 p.m.?’ I welcomed that but we sat and waited and waited,” he told reporters.
“We waited until 7 p.m., nothing happened. ‘OK, sorry, we weren’t able to do that.’ That’s going to affect us mentally, especially me as a head coach… I know FIFA is trying its best, I thank them for that but it doesn’t mean they have succeeded.”
Belgium, meanwhile, arrived a day earlier for its second match of the group stage, though Ghalenoei shared that his squad will at least be able to arrive in Seattle two days before its final group stage clash against Egypt.
“I wish they could have done it for the first two games,” the coach said. “To arrive in optimal conditions, they robbed us of this.”
Ghalenoei also criticized the fact that he has not heard anything from the other 47 teams, who are not facing the same travel restrictions as Iran amid the country’s conflict with the US. FIFA rules do state that team’s are to travel to matches a day before matches, or two “in exceptional cases,” but Iran is seemingly not even being given the choice.
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“I have not had any reaction from anyone,” Ghalenoei said. “Our grievances are to do with the way [World Cup organizers] have behaved towards us.”
“I’ve not heard from other coaches, they are busy with their own teams, and we did not receive anything… I would have [done].”
Despite some of the chaos facing Iran, they earned a creditable 2-2 draw with New Zealand in its opener, with goals from Ramin Rezaeian and Mohammad Mohebi.
