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Iran’s head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, has announced that strict travel restrictions imposed on the team at the FIFA World Cup 2026 will be eased for their final Group G match against Egypt.
Prior to this, the Iranian squad, based in Mexico to mitigate U.S. visa issues, has had to commute across the border for their World Cup matches.
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However, Ghalenoei criticized these hurdles, stating that the exhaustion from excessive flying severely impacted their on-field performances in earlier game against the New Zealand.
“They said in Seattle, you can do what you want, you can act the way you want to, and you can come earlier,” he told a press conference, without specifying who exactly the information had come from.
“I just know for the last game, yes, they’ve allowed us to decide, to make our own decisions with regard to planning the travel.
“But unfortunately, for the first two games, others made these travel arrangements for us, and the timing for us.”
“And I think, because we have been flying too much, commuting, as a result of this long commute, we’ve been tired.”
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Ghalenoei said his team had arrived in the US on Saturday, less than 24 hours before kickoff, despite being briefly told by FIFA on Friday, early afternoon, that they may be able to travel that day.
“We waited till 7.00pm, nothing happened, and they said, ‘Sorry, we weren’t able to do that,” said the coach.
“That’s going to affect us mentally, especially me as a head coach, because I want to focus on technical stuff,” he said.
