Italy’s repechage to World Cup: the'Iran can’t go to the U.S., Azzurri alerted
The latest news from Tehran is once again fueling Italy’s repechage chances, less than a month before the start of the World Cup in Canada, the United States and Mexico. The chaotic situation in the Persian Gulf seems to have no solution and directly impacts Iran’s participation in the World Cup.
The Iranian selection, greeted with full honors by a jubilant crowd on Wednesday evening in Tehran, is currently unable to travel to the United States. The visa situation, which Tehran has been reporting for a month now, has not only not been resolved, but seems to have escalated and now affects the entire squad available to coach Ghalenoei. With less than 30 days to go before the debut, Iran has had no signal from Washington, and leaders suspect a full-fledged boycott by the Trump administration.
“The visa issue is not resolved, we have not received any clarification from the other side as to who got the visa. So far, no visa has been issued and no communications have arrived.” The “Vancouver case” weighs heavily on the situation: a few days ago the Iranian leaders had been denied access to Canada at the Toronto airport, and they were forced to forgo the FIFA Congress in Vancouver.
Iran wants guarantees and is expected to meet with FIFA in Zurich soon to talk about the issue and get the necessary reassurances: anything can still happen and according to rumors several Federations, including the Italian one, have been alerted.
Iran is expected to stay in Tucson, Arizona, during the World Cup and is expected to face New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt in Group G.
In Iran’s group, too, there is growing impatience with a situation that has been dragging on for weeks now. In Belgium, in particular, patience seems to be running out: “It is not possible to still not know whether we will play Iran, the UAE, Italy, Bolivia or Tanzania: each team is different from the others,” wrote blogger Le Populaire, garnering a myriad of endorsements. With the start of the tournament now imminent, the lack of certainty weighs on all the national teams included in Group G.
