While the players obtained the visas necessary to enter the United States and play their group-stage matches in Los Angeles and Seattle, not all delegation members received them.<\/p>\n
About 15 accompanying officials were denied visas, including Iranian football federation president Mehdi Taj, who previously served in Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, designated a terrorist group by Washington.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes no sense to me,\u201d Galavi complained. \u201cSport is supposed to be a symbol of peace, so when you mix politics and sports, it doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The visa controversy is the latest chapter in the drama surrounding Iran\u2019s team at this unusual World Cup, jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.<\/p>\n
Since the first Israeli and American strikes against Iran in late February, the war has created repeated uncertainty over Iran\u2019s participation.<\/p>\n
Never before had a nation competing in the tournament been at war with one of the host countries and Tehran has long left open the question of whether its team would be allowed to play.<\/p>\n
The insistence of Fifa ultimately prevailed. But two weeks ago, rising tensions prompted the Iranian federation to announce that the team would stay in Tijuana rather than in Tucson, Arizona, as originally planned.<\/p>\n
With all these off-field developments, can the Iranians play their best football against New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt and finally advance from the group stage \u2013 a feat they have never achieved?<\/p>\n
Sina Moghadam has no doubts \u2013 and displays unwavering faith in his team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIran\u2019s history goes back thousands of years. Things like this only make us stronger; they won\u2019t destabilise the team,\u201d the Iranian-American, who had travelled from San Diego, just across the border in California, boasted.<\/p>\n
Waving an enormous Iranian flag, the retired self-described \u201cpatriot\u201d said he was hoping for a match between Iran and the United States in the knockout stage \u2013 a blockbuster encounter that would become the political spectacle of the tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope they\u2019re going to kick the US team\u2019s ass,\u201d he laughed as the players\u2019 bus disappeared from view.<\/p>\n
Escorted by a large convoy of heavily armed Mexican police and military personnel, the team arrived to find extensive security measures around their hotel as well as at the entrance to Estadio Caliente, where Iran are scheduled to train.<\/p>\n
The security presence offered some reassurance to Hossein Nikyar, who had driven overnight from Los Angeles with his son to herald the team\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s safer for them to be here than in Los Angeles anyway, because many Iranians in LA are royalists who want to take down the Government,\u201d the engineer, in his forties, said.<\/p>\n
Nikyar already has tickets to see Iran play in Los Angeles. But even before the tournament begins, he cannot hide his bitterness.<\/p>\n
\u201cFifa claims that there\u2019s no politics in the World Cup, and it\u2019s all about the football fair play,\u201d he sighed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut in fact, we see that it\u2019s not true.\u201d<\/p>\n
– AFP<\/p>\n