Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei has criticised the US authorities for how they have scheduled the team’s World Cup training, arguing there has been no consistency between games and that Iran are at a significant disadvantage for their upcoming fixtures.
Iran’s World Cup sojourn has been fraught with difficulty as a result of the war between it and the US. The team’s base was relocated to Tijuana, Mexico from its original planned base in Tucson, Arizona, while several staff members were denied visas to enter the US.
The squad has had to commute to the US for their Group G matches due to severe restrictions over their stay in the country, but those restrictions have been applied inconsistently from game to game, Ghalenoei said.
Speaking on Saturday, Ghalenoei said the latest schedule left his team with less than 16 hours to prepare and forced them to cut training short ahead of their meeting with Belgium.
He said: “We only managed to train half the time we usually spend on training. We wanted to have optimal physical and technical preparation.
“Look at the Belgium team,” he added. “They arrived yesterday noon. They’ve managed to have proper training.”
He said they had had 24 hours to prepare before their 2-2 draw with New Zealand on the first matchday. “The conditions have become even harder,” he said.
Ghalenoei reserved some of his sharpest criticism for what he described as an inconsistency in the treatment of Iran’s travel plans. US officials have said the squad’s travel arrangements would continue to be assessed, while discussions over easing some restrictions have continued.
Ghalenoei said he had been told Iran would have greater control over their arrangements before their final group match in Seattle against Egypt on 26 June.
He said: “For the third game, they’ve allowed us to decide to make our own decisions with regards to planning the travel. But what my problem is, why didn’t they let us come earlier for the first two games as well? If they’ve managed to do this now, why didn’t they do that for our first game and for this game?”
Ghalenoei, however, praised Fifa president Gianni Infantino and the governing body for attempting to help. “I know for sure that Fifa and Mr Infantino are doing the utmost to ease these challenges that we are facing. I think FIFA did its utmost to minimise the problems we have faced.”
He also thanked US authorities for facilitating the team’s arrival procedures despite his frustrations over the lost preparation time. “Once we entered the United States, they made sure that in customs everything went smoothly,” he said. “I’d like to thank the US for that. But unfortunately, it’s our training time that they did not give us.”
Reuters
