The Iran national team faced serious obstacles in October 2023 while expecting to hold several friendly matches. Mehdi Taj, the president of the Football Federation, announced that the government of Guinea-Bissau had prevented the match between this country and Iran from taking place. This clearly shows that government decisions can directly impact sports schedules.
An Agreement That Did Not Materialize
Mehdi Taj stated regarding the cancellation of the match with Guinea-Bissau that the federation of this country had reached an agreement to hold the match with Iran, but ultimately cited its government and announced that it was not allowed to hold the game. He also mentioned that the Guinea-Bissau federation claimed that there was nothing it could do under these circumstances.
Read more: The president of the Football Federation announced a 3+1 quota for Iran in Asia
However, this was not the only issue. Ali Khatir, a member of the Football Federation's board, referred to a similar situation regarding the Turkmenistan national team in a television program. He said that he personally spoke with the head coach of this team and learned that the Turkmen side was also interested in holding a match with the Iran national team. However, the government of Turkmenistan also obstructed this agreement and did not allow the match to take place.
Consequences of the Canceled Matches
These two events, namely the cancellation of matches with Guinea-Bissau and Turkmenistan, raise serious questions. Is this problem limited to these two countries, or have other national teams that Iran could have played against also faced similar obstacles?
The Iran Football Federation has recently faced the cancellation of several friendly matches, and ultimately the Iran national team only played against Uzbekistan and Russia. Mehdi Taj had previously emphasized that these cancellations were due to decisions made by other federations and that there were no flight issues.
It seems that this situation has created new challenges for the technical staff of the Iran national team. They now need to find solutions to hold friendly matches to prepare the team for upcoming competitions. The lack of friendly matches could seriously impact the team's performance in official competitions.
Read more: Morteza Namati from immigration to Canada to championship in Asian Games · Mohammad Mohbi's absence in Iran's friendly matches against Uzbekistan and Russia
