Iran's national team is doing their World Cup prep in embassy waiting rooms as much as on the training pitch. The entire squad attended visa appointments in Ankara on Thursday — Canadian visas for all, U.S. visas for those who hadn't already applied before the Iran war began.
It's a logistical tangle that has no real parallel at this tournament. Iran are scheduled to play all three group-stage matches on U.S. soil — New Zealand on June 15 in Los Angeles, Belgium on June 21 in Los Angeles, then Egypt in Seattle on June 26. The Canadian visas are contingent on actually surviving that group, but with the geopolitical backdrop, securing them now makes sense.
Seven weeks without competitive football
The visa queues are only part of the problem. Iran's domestic league was suspended after U.S. and Israeli strikes on the country began on February 28, meaning most home-based players went seven weeks without a competitive match. Coach Amir Ghalenoei is now running a pre-tournament camp in Antalya, Turkey, attempting to rebuild sharpness from scratch ahead of a World Cup that kicks off in weeks.
That's not a minor inconvenience — it's a real fitness deficit going into a tournament where Belgium in the group is already a stern test. Iran qualified comfortably for the expanded 48-team World Cup, but a squad short on match minutes is a different proposition from one hitting form at the right time. Their odds of making the knockout rounds deserve another look given the circumstances.
Some foreign-based players joined the squad in Ankara before the group moved south to Antalya's Mediterranean coast, which at least gives Ghalenoei a core of players who've been playing regularly. How quickly he can integrate them with domestic players who've been idle is the real question.
The friendly before the deadline
Iran play Gambia in a friendly on May 29 before Ghalenoei must submit his final 26-man squad by FIFA's June 1 deadline. One match to sort out combinations, shake off rust, and make difficult calls on players who've had their preparation disrupted through no fault of their own.
FIFA brokered the arrangement for U.S. visa applications to be handled in Turkey — a workaround that technically functions, even if the broader situation surrounding Iran's participation in this tournament remains unlike anything a World Cup has dealt with before.
