ANTALYA, Turkey (AP):
FIFA President Gianni Infantino yesterday promised to “continue to support” Iran’s preparations for the World Cup as he met the Iranian national team for the first time since the US and Israel launched airstrikes on the country a month ago.
Infantino spoke with Iran’s players and fooball federation officials after flying in from Florida to the Turkish coastal resort Antalya, where the team played one of their last warm-up games for the tournament, which the United States will co-host with Canada and Mexico.
“FIFA will continue to support the team to ensure the best possible conditions as they prepare for the World Cup,” Infantino wrote yesterday in an Instagram post sent after he left Turkey.
As the Iranian anthem played before the friendly against Costa Rica, players and officials, including coach Amir Ghalenoei and federation vice-president Mehdi Mohammad Nabi posed with pictures of children allegedly killed by US and Israeli airstrikes since February 28.
The war has raised doubts about Iran’s participation in the World Cup with often conflicting public comments from Iranian government and football officials and US President Donald Trump in the past month.
Iran are due to play two group-stage games in Inglewood, California, and one in Seattle.
Iranian officials suggested moving the team’s group stage games to Mexico after Trump discouraged the team from attending the tournament, citing safety concerns.
The FIFA leader has repeatedly said Iran will stick to the World Cup schedule. In Mexico City last weekend, Infantino told broadcaster N+ Univision that there is only “Plan A” and no back-up options for Iran to play their games as agreed in December after the World Cup tournament draw was made.
All the crosstalk and leverage plays have been against a backdrop of escalating conflict in the Middle East that has roiled global diplomacy and economies.
Iran are a football power in Asia and widely seen as good enough to advance to the knockout rounds after playing New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt in the group stage. If so, the US are a potential opponent in the round of 32.
On Tuesday, Iran’s players easily beat Costa Rica 5-0 in a game played without fans after meeting with Infantino at their hotel.
The players’ gesture came after they held small backpacks on Friday before another warm-up against Nigeria to honour the victims of a deadly missile strike on an elementary school in southern Iran. More than 165 people were killed, most of them children, in the Febuary 28 strike likely launched by the US.
Neither the United States nor Israel has accepted responsibility for the attack, which has been widely criticised by the United Nations and human rights groups. The US military is investigating and has said it would never target civilians.
