2026 World Cup: Egypt, Iran only talking soccer before Seattle match

by · The Seattle Times

Before a question could be asked of the Iran’s soccer representatives on Thursday afternoon, it was made clear they only had intentions of addressing anything related to the game played on the field.

“The Islamic Republic of the Iran Football Federation has asked us to inform the media that they are only willing to answer questions in relation to the game. We fully respect the right of all journalists to ask questions. In this case, we ask you respect the rights of the federation here today to only answer questions in relation to the team, the tactics, the match, and so on,” FIFA’s Daniel Marin said before the news conference started.

And then Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei proceeded to be asked on multiple occasions whether his team will be able to focus just on what’s happening on the field Friday night facing Egypt in its final group stage match of the FIFA Men’s World Cup and not be distracted by what might be going on in the stands or outside of Seattle Stadium.

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“Look, I said to you earlier we are here to play football. For nothing else,” Ghalenoei said through an interpreter. “Our entire focus is going to be on tomorrow’s game, on succeeding in tomorrow’s game. And anything else that is banned in our league, we don’t want to speak about it. We are only going to speak about football, what a beautiful game it is and how enjoyable it’s going to be.” 

For more than six months, the Iran soccer team gained as much attention, words and airtime as any of the host countries or elite national teams taking part in the World Cup. And none of it had to do with the actual game being played.

At first, it was Iran being drawn to play in Seattle at the start of Pride weekend in the city and in a match deemed a Pride celebration by the local organizing committee. That was followed by months of uncertainty whether the Iranians would be able to even participate after attacks by the United States and Israel led to an ongoing Middle East conflict.

But the focus on the Pride events returned to the forefront the day before Iran plays perhaps the most important match in its World Cup history. A win over Egypt would send Iran to the knockout rounds for the first time. A draw could end up being enough depending on what happens elsewhere.

It’s understandable why Iran wanted to focus only on the soccer. It’s also understandable the question continues to be asked about how Iran and Egypt — countries where same-sex relationships are criminalized — feel about being involved in a match that was predetermined before the draw to be a celebration of the region’s LGBTQ+ community.

“As a head coach, as technical director, we are all focused on football. This is all we think about,” Egypt coach Hossam Hassan said through an interpreter.

For Iran, it’s not just questions about the expectation of Pride flags being displayed by fans inside the stadium. It’s also about the “Lion and Sun” flag, the pre-revolutionary flag of Iran, that has been banned by FIFA but managed to find its way into the country’s first two matches of the tournament in Los Angeles.

“All our thoughts are going to be focused on football, on the beautiful game of football, on our success. We are going to be positive. We are not going to think about any other issues,” Ghalenoei said. “We seek to bring joy to our people and when the game starts, all our focus is going to be on the pitch. We are not going to think about what is going on outside of the pitch, because the game is going to be so arduous. It is going to be so exciting that we are going to have our total focus on that. We are representatives of our great Iranian nation and great Iranian country and football only. We are only focused on football and nothing else.” 

While most of the focus leading up to 8 p.m. Friday night will be on the scenes away from the grass of the stadium, eventually the attention will be on what happens on the field.

Iran opened the tournament with a 2-2 draw against New Zealand before playing to a thoroughly boring 0-0 draw with Belgium that Fox Sports analyst and former Sweden star Zlatan Ibrahimovic joked put him to sleep.

The one highlight from the draw with Belgium was Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand’s stunning left-handed save in the second half with Belgium’s Maxim De Cuyper staring at an open net.

“I have put my entire focus on tomorrow’s game and I hope for the first time Iran will qualify and advance to the knockout stage, and then I can think about myself and how I have progressed in life,” Beiranvand said via an interpreter. “But tomorrow is only about Egypt.”

To be fair, Iran has faced obstacles no other team in the tournament has to date without even taking into account the war in its home country.

It was forced to relocate its base camp to Tijuana, Mexico, after struggling to obtain visas for its entire traveling party. For its first two group-stage matches in Los Angeles, the team was only permitted to arrive the day before the match, rather than the arrival window of two days before offered to other teams.

In part because of the longer travel to Seattle for Friday’s match, the Iranian contingent was permitted to arrive on Wednesday.

“This was our right, which we should have had in the two previous games, but they didn’t. They deprived us with the right to arrive in time,” Ghalenoei said.

While most of the attention has fallen on Iran, the actual match itself also presents an opportunity at history for Egypt. Just like their opponent, the Pharaohs have never advanced to the knockout rounds of the tournament. They picked up their first tournament win ever last Sunday in Vancouver by rallying for a 3-1 win over New Zealand, and a victory over Iran would clinch first place in the group for Egypt and a return trip to Seattle for the round of 32 next Wednesday, with South Korea the potential opponent.

“We want to advance to the round of 32 in a way that is worthy of Egyptian football and the Egyptian national team,” Hassan said.