Italy’s repechage to World Cup, Iranians furious: tough new accusation
The Iranian national soccer team has finally succeeded in obtaining the U.S. visas needed to play matches in the World Cup that will begin in a very few days. The geopolitical situation and the tension between Washington and Tehran have generated many problems for the team led by Amir Ghalenoei, who on FIFA channels launched a new harsh accusation.
“From the technical point of view we should have been here already last week. With a 12-hour time zone it takes at least two weeks to adapt. In tournaments of this level, in addition to technical aspects, human and ethical aspects should also be respected. In our case this did not happen. After all, the great people and country of Iran have unfortunately become accustomed to this kind of treatment over the past decades.”
“I would like to point out, along with the other 47 technical commissioners present at this World Cup, that a team called to play in eight days remained in uncertainty until two days ago,” Iran’s technical commissioner continued. “And, I repeat, without FIFA’s intervention we would not be here today. After the situation regarding the players and technical staff was clarified, our management staff, executive director and media officer still did not receive permission to participate in the tournament. I wonder: what kind of behavior is this? I hope that this situation will be corrected and that similar incidents will not be repeated in the future.”
“This delegation carries with it two important messages for the world: the first is about the suffering, humanity, pride and strength of the great Iranian people; the second is of a technical-sporting nature and we hope to represent our country at its best in this aspect as well. I thank FIFA again, but I want to make it clear that we are bitter about what happened. Such incidents have not occurred in the past and we hope that they will not happen to any team in the upcoming World Cup either.
The adventure of Mehdi Taremi and his teammates at the World Cup will begin on Tuesday, June 16 with the challenge against New Zealand, then on the 21st they will take on Belgium and on the 27th Egypt.
