TEHRAN (Kashmir English): Iran’s football squad will leave for Spain this weekend en route to their World Cup base in Mexico despite still awaiting visas, according to the head of the country’s football federation.
This year’s World Cup is being hosted jointly by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The United States and Mexico have yet not issued visas for the Iranian players. It is to mention that Iran will play their three group stage matches in the United States, while the team will be based in Mexico throughout the tournament.
“We will leave for Spain on Saturday, and from there the team will go directly to Tijuana in Mexico,” football federation chief Mehdi Taj said on a sports programme broadcast on state television.
The squad will obtain a Mexican visa and then a US visa will be issued quickly, Taj said.
Iran’s World Cup early fixtures
Iran have been drawn in Group G and will play New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles on June 15 and 21, followed by a game against Egypt in Seattle on June 26.
Iranian football federation chief said that the United States and Israeli attacks on Iran starting February 28 “changed everything” for Team Melli.
“The situation in the country, and especially the war, has upended all our plans,” Taj said.
“We had arranged good warm-up matches, including one against Spain, which was cancelled” in February.
The Iranians relocated their World Cup base, which initially was planned to be in Tucson in the US state of Arizona, to the northwestern Mexican border city of Tijuana due to tensions with the United States. The team are currently preparing for the global event in Turkey.
On Friday they beat Gambia 3-1 in a friendly in Antalya, where they will play another warm-up match against Mali on Thursday.
