Iran crash out as World Cup ends in chaos on and off the pitch

TIJUANA (Mexico), June 29 — Iran will fly home on Monday following their agonising elimination from the World Cup at the end of the group stage, team officials said.

The Iranian squad will take off from the Mexican city of Tijuana – where they have been based during the competition – at 6:00 pm local time (0100 GMT Tuesday), their press officer said.

Iran finished third in Group G with three points after drawing matches against New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt.

That was not enough for them to progress to the last 32 as one of the eight best third-placed sides, as they missed out by a difference of two goals.

Iran’s tournament was overshadowed from the start by the ongoing war between the country and the United States and Israel.

They moved their World Cup base camp from Tucson, Arizona to Tijuana after a dozen of their staff members had their US visas denied.

Iran still played all their matches in the United States but were unhappy at travel restrictions placed on them by American authorities.

That included not being allowed to arrive in the US two days before their matches.

They were allowed to do that before their final game against Egypt, but still had to return to Mexico straight after.

“It is a disaster World Cup. A disaster,” said captain Mehdi Taremi after the Egypt draw.

“Who is in charge? Fifa. They have to solve every problem here but unfortunately they couldn’t since the beginning,” he said. — AFP