{"id":11484,"date":"2026-03-09T19:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/11484\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T19:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:24:10","slug":"iraq-manager-urges-fifa-to-delay-his-teams-world-cup-play-off-due-to-iran-us-war-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/11484\/","title":{"rendered":"Iraq manager urges Fifa to delay his team\u2019s World Cup play-off due to Iran-US war"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iraq<\/a>\u2019s head coach Graham Arnold has issued an urgent plea to Fifa<\/a> to delay his team\u2019s intercontinental World Cup qualifier due to disruptions from escalating regional conflict.<\/p>\n

Major logistical issues confront the Iraq squad ahead of their winner-takes-all playoff against either Suriname<\/a> or Bolivia<\/a>, scheduled for 31 March in Monterrey<\/a>, Mexico<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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With Iraqi airspace<\/a> closed until 1 April due to the escalating conflict between Iran<\/a> and the US, Arnold\u2019s squad \u2013 containing predominantly domestic league players \u2013 is unable to fully gather.<\/p>\n

Players have not secured visas for the Mexico play-off tournament due to foreign embassy closures, and coach Arnold remains stranded in the United Arab Emirates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Iraq<\/p>\n

Iraq are due to play in a World Cup play-off but the team is unable to full gather (Reuters)<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease help us with this game because right now we are struggling to get our players out of the country of Iraq,\u201d Arnold, a former coach of Australia<\/a>\u2019s national team, told the Australian Associated Press.<\/p>\n

The ongoing turmoil has already forced the postponement of a planned training camp in Houston<\/a>. Arnold stated that fielding a team solely of overseas-based players is not a viable option.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be our best team, and we need our best team available for the country\u2019s biggest game in 40 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Arnold has proposed a strategic delay to the playoff schedule, suggesting Fifa permit Suriname and Bolivia to play their preliminary match this month, but defer the final playoff until a week before the World Cup begins.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion, if Fifa were to delay the game, it gives us time to prepare properly,\u201d Arnold said. \u201dIn my opinion, it also gives Fifa more time to decide what Iran is going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Iran withdraws, we go into the World Cup, and it gives the UAE, who we beat in qualifying, the chance to prepare for either Bolivia or Suriname.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur federation\u2019s president Adnan Dirjal is working round the clock trying to plan and prepare to make everyone in Iraq\u2019s dream come true, so we need this decision made quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iraq\u2019s head coach Graham Arnold has issued an urgent plea to Fifa to delay his team\u2019s intercontinental World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1648,6511,2982,2711,34,94,2979,6509,6512,6510,2577],"class_list":{"0":"post-11484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iraq","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-bolivia","10":"tag-fifa","11":"tag-graham-arnold","12":"tag-iran","13":"tag-iraq","14":"tag-mexico","15":"tag-playoff-schedule","16":"tag-suriname","17":"tag-team","18":"tag-world-cup"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116200856792725539","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}