The United States government has relaxed travel restrictions imposed on the Iranian national football team participating in the World Cup, allowing the squad to enter the country two days prior to their next match, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced on Tuesday.
The team will still be required to depart the country immediately following Friday’s match in Seattle, a department spokesperson confirmed. A spokesperson for the Iranian Football Federation confirmed that the squad will leave its training base camp in Tijuana, Mexico, on Wednesday to travel directly to Seattle.
“This was planned on our end,” said Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, in statements to the Associated Press. “We were going to look at how the first two movements went, and if they went smoothly, we would extend the extra day in light of the longer travel time.”
The Iranian delegation has consistently complained about the tight travel restrictions and administrative challenges the team has faced since the outbreak of war.
Read more about this topic: Iran says talks with U.S. have concluded (with video)
For their opening two matches, which took place in Los Angeles, the squad was only permitted to cross into the U.S. the day before the game. Additionally, the team’s training base camp had to be relocated from Tucson, Arizona, across the border to Mexico, and several team officials and support staff members were entirely barred from traveling to the U.S.
While it is not uncommon for teams to travel just one day before a match in compliance with standard FIFA regulations, Iran had requested additional time to properly acclimate to the host cities and recover between fixtures.
Following Sunday’s draw against Belgium, national team winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh publicly expressed his hope that the team could head to Seattle as early as possible to adapt to the venue where they will play a decisive match against Egypt.
“We don’t ask for much. We just ask for the same procedure as for all the other 47 teams,” he stated.
Read more: World Cup: Belgium and Iran draw goalless (with video)
Group G standings
The upcoming match at Seattle Stadium is critical for Iran’s survival in the tournament. Having registered two draws in their opening fixtures, Iran sits in a tight battle within Group G.
| Position | Team | Matches | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points |
| 1st | Egypt | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 2nd | Iran | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 3rd | Belgium | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 4th | New Zealand | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Match day information: The decisive Group G match between Egypt and Iran is scheduled to kick off this Friday, June 26, at 20:00 local time (Saturday, June 27, at 04:00 WEST in Lisbon time) at Seattle Stadium.
