Iran manager Amir Ghalenoei has urged Fifa president Gianni Infantino to “stand up” to the United States after what he described as “very unfair” treatment of his team during the World Cup – as captain Mehdi Taremi called the tournament a “logistical disaster”.
Ghalenoei’s side drew 1-1 with Egypt on Friday to finish third in Group G, leaving their hopes of reaching the last 32 hanging by a thread. But the frustration of the Iranian camp extends far beyond the result. For their first two matches in Los Angeles, Iran’s squad was only allowed to enter the United States the day before the match and had to leave again on the same day under the terms of their visas. The team was forced to base themselves in Tijuana, Mexico, despite playing all their games on US soil.
“Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei urges Fifa to 'stand up' to US over 'very unfair' World Cup treatment amid visa restrictions.”
“To my players and the team, I want to say to them I’m proud of them,” Ghalenoei said after the Egypt match. “What these young people, these players have done, it should be written in history because the host country treated us very unfairly. Despite all of these problems, we’ve been able to perform well and the world is proud of Iranians and our team.”
Travel restrictions were eased for their final group game in Seattle, allowing Iran to arrive two days early, but they still had to return to Tijuana after the match. Ghalenoei acknowledged that Infantino had tried to help, but demanded more. “I know Mr Infantino has tried his best to minimise the problems as much as possible but it was the host that wasn’t very good to us,” he told a post-match press conference. “I urge Fifa to not let the hosts treat teams and players the same way in the future. I hope Mr Infantino will actually stand up to such behaviour.”
Infantino had previously said the organisation did well to ensure Iran could compete at all. “When people were saying it would be impossible for Iran to come to the World Cup, I promised them that they would come,” Infantino said before the tournament. “I don’t know who else would have been able to ensure in these circumstances – which we could not influence – Iran could come and play.” He later visited the Iran dressing room after their opening draw with New Zealand.
Captain Mehdi Taremi, who missed a penalty shortly after Ramin Rezaeian equalised, was more scathing. “Since the beginning, it’s a disaster World Cup,” the striker said. “I mean, Fifa, they have to solve every problem here but unfortunately this they couldn’t solve since the beginning. Mr Infantino came to our changing room after the first game and he said, ‘It’s just the beginning’. But the group stage finishes tomorrow and we don’t have our logistic people here, they don’t have a visa. How is that possible?” Taremi also noted that 11 senior Iranian officials were denied entry to the US.
On the pitch, Iran thought they had secured automatic qualification in stoppage time when Shoja Khalilzadeh slammed a loose ball into the net, but the goal was disallowed for offside after a VAR review. Saeid Ezatolahi also headed against the crossbar. “I used to think that we were really a totally oppressed team, but after these three games, I have noticed that we also have bad luck as well,” Ghalenoei added.
Iran are sixth in the standings of third-placed sides with three groups still to finish – the top eight progress. Asked if he believed Fifa and the US wanted Iran knocked out, Taremi replied: “We have to fight against everything here. I don’t know what people want or know, but as we see it by our perspective, yeah, they’d like that, I think.”