Iran to play at least one World Cup game on U.S. soil
GENEVA AP Iran will play at least one of its World Cup matches in the United States though the tournament draw on Friday avoided a group-stage clash between the geopolitical rivals The Iranian organization representing a country targeted by U S airstrikes in June and whose citizens are subject to a advance ban imposed by President Donald Trump s administration will open its World Cup campaign against New Zealand in Seattle or Inglewood California on June Iran s next two games could be played across the Canadian boundary in Vancouver or in Inglewood and Seattle FIFA will confirm the detailed contest schedule Saturday The United States was drawn to play Australia Paraguay and a third band to be determined in the European playoffs in March Iran s participation in the tournament co-hosted by the U S Canada and Mexico has already presented diplomatic challenges Last week Iran declared it would boycott the draw after several authorities including soccer federation president Mehdi Taj and general secretary Hedayat Momebeni were denied U S movement visas The federation later modified its stance saying Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei would attend the event at the Kennedy Center in Washington It wasn t promptly clear whether Ghalenoei was present at Friday s draw Protection and visas Iran was among countries subject to a journey ban ordered by Trump s administration on June A second World Cup nation Haiti also is on it Exemptions were promised for teams and advocacy staff traveling for the World Cup but not for fans The Trump administration called Iran a state sponsor of terrorism and barred visitors except for those already holding visas or coming special visas issued for minorities facing persecution Later in June Trump ordered a bombardment of Iran by so-called bunker buster bombs and cruise missiles targeting underground uranium enrichment plants Within days he declared a ceasefire in a -day war between U S ally Israel and Iran Asian soccer power Iran is an established force in soccer ranked No in the world by FIFA and second only to Japan among Asian national teams Crew Melli as the squad is popularly known is preparing to play at its seventh World Cup Its best known competitor is forward Mehdi Taremi who has played for Inter Milan Porto and now Olympiakos Iran s the majority problematic diplomatic relations among its future World Cup opponents are with Egypt Their diplomatic ties were severed in after Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel and remained strained until latest years New Zealand s authorities condemned the death in September of -year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country s morality police Iran at the last World Cup Amini s death just a scant weeks before the last World Cup played in nearby Qatar brought domestic politics into the stadiums where Iran played The unit refused to sign Iran s national anthem before its opening meeting in Doha against England and there were clashes between fans and pro-government supporters at its second battle against Wales Plenty of fans displayed the Woman Life Freedom slogan to protest the authorities before Iran s World Cup campaign ended with a - loss to the U S AP soccer https apnews com hub soccer Source
