Italy’s repechage to the World Cup: more obstacles from the US, Iran with no more certainties

Two weeks to go until the World Cup in Canada, the United States and Mexico, and Iran’s participation in the World Cup is increasingly in the balance. In a few days, Tehran’s selection will leave for Mexico, where the new base camp has been moved after the U.S. said no to hosting them. But the players still don’t know whether or not they will participate in the World Cup.

The visas from the U.S. have not yet arrived: in fact, Iran will have to play three times on U.S. soil, with New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles and with Egypt in Seattle, and the players and technical staff will only be able to enter the U.S. on a multiple-entry visa in order to play the match and then return to Mexico.

From the U.S. all is silent and FIFA’s guarantees at the moment remain only on paper. Iran will receive a response from U.S. authorities regarding its World Cup visa applications “this week,” Iranian soccer federation vice president Mehdi Mohammad Nabi said Friday. “We sent an e-mail to FIFA asking about the status of visa applications … and FIFA replied that the results will be communicated this week,” Nabi said.

The difficult situation in the Middle East adds to the complication. A missile from Iran reportedly hit a Kuwaiti air base causing minor injuries to several Americans two nights ago and severely damaging two U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones, Iran International writes, citing Bloomberg.

In the background of this tangled diplomatic and sporting affair lurks the issue of Italy’s repechage. Under Article 6.7 of FIFA regulations-which provides for the possibility of replacing a withdrawn or excluded association with another federation-the Azzurri could be a candidate in the event of an Iranian forfeit.