\n
ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) \u2014 Iran is world cup<\/span> While the country is war<\/span> The match against the first host country is a rare situation in the history of the tournament.<\/p>\nTwo members of the team spoke in exclusive interviews with The Associated Press during team camp in T\u00fcrkiye. iran national team<\/span> He explained how the conflict is affecting preparations for the World Cup.<\/p>\n“To be honest, it’s not easy,” said Saeed Ezatollah, a 29-year-old midfielder who also played for Iran at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.<\/p>\n
“This will be my third World Cup. So it might be easier for me and the other players to manage this kind of thing,” he said in English on the sidelines of Wednesday’s practice session. “But in the end… it will be difficult for us because at the same time we follow the news in our country and of course political matters can influence the minds of the players and the people.”<\/p>\n
The Iranian team has spent more than two weeks in Turkey, mostly practicing in the coastal resort of Antalya, with some traveling to the capital Ankara to submit visa applications to the U.S. embassy. Media access to World Cup preparations has been limited, with players rarely speaking to international journalists.<\/p>\n
The team is scheduled to head to Mexico this weekend after receiving visas from the Mexican embassy in Ankara. Iran’s World Cup training base closed due to visa processing issues Moved<\/span> From Tucson, Arizona to Tijuana on the Mexico-California border.<\/p>\nIran will play its first two games near Los Angeles. Iranian community,<\/span> Many of them oppose the current government.<\/p>\n“So certainly we expect a lot of fans during the game at the stadium,” Ezatolahi said. “And this will put a lot of pressure on us because the expectations are high. Hopefully we can make them proud and show that Iranians are ready to take on all the hard jobs in the world,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mohammad Ghorbani, 24, will be playing in his first World Cup with Iran.<\/p>\n
“It’s true that we are facing a special situation right now, but we are football players and we have to play, practice and prepare for the upcoming tournaments,” the Abu Dhabi-based player told The Associated Press in Farsi. <\/p>\n
\u201cOn the other hand, we know that our people have gone through a lot of hardship throughout the war, and we are going to be there for them to get the best outcome for their joy and the joy of our people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teams do not need to enter the United States until June 14, the day before their first game against New Zealand at Los Angeles Rams Stadium in Inglewood.<\/p>\n
Iran returned to Inglewood to play Belgium on June 21 and finished the match. Group G<\/span> They will play against Egypt in Seattle on June 26th.<\/p>\n“I’m really proud to be part of the national team,” Ezatolahi said. His career has seen him play for clubs in Spain, Russia, England, Belgium, Denmark, Qatar and now Dubai, United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n
“We need to clear our minds and be fresh because our goal and duty is to fight for our people, represent our country and show how good we are,” he said.<\/p>\n
Ghorbani agreed, saying the team wants to bring joy to Iranians.<\/p>\n
“The biggest message I can give right now is that the Iranian team is showing what it means to be a team,” he said. \u201cWe are showing the world the power of Iranian athletes and Iranian people, showing that we are one team under one flag that can bring joy to the whole country.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
___ AP World Cup coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) \u2014 Iran is world cup While the country is war The match against the first host country is a rare situation in the history of the tournament. Two members of the team spoke in exclusive interviews with The Associated Press during team camp in T\u00fcrkiye. iran national team He explained how the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-35493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"\n
AP Exclusive: Iranian players talk about how war is affecting World Cup preparations - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AP Exclusive: Iranian players talk about how war is affecting World Cup preparations - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) \u2014 Iran is world cup While the country is war The match against the first host country is a rare situation in the history of the tournament. Two members of the team spoke in exclusive interviews with The Associated Press during team camp in T\u00fcrkiye. iran national team He explained how the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-04T09:37:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/\",\"name\":\"AP Exclusive: Iranian players talk about how war is affecting World Cup preparations - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Feb2F562Ffb0908d96a96973baf2afea5a8392F2dff6aaddcfe4ee3bb5ed2545f841d5e.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-04T09:37:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Feb2F562Ffb0908d96a96973baf2afea5a8392F2dff6aaddcfe4ee3bb5ed2545f841d5e.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Feb2F562Ffb0908d96a96973baf2afea5a8392F2dff6aaddcfe4ee3bb5ed2545f841d5e.jpeg\",\"width\":980,\"height\":653},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"AP Exclusive: Iranian players talk about how war is affecting World Cup preparations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. Get the latest EPL news, live match updates, transfer rumors, team analysis, fixtures, and exclusive insights for true football fans.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\",\"name\":\"admin_ok9yktt6\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin_ok9yktt6\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/author\/admin_ok9yktt6\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"AP Exclusive: Iranian players talk about how war is affecting World Cup preparations - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"AP Exclusive: Iranian players talk about how war is affecting World Cup preparations - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","og_description":"ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) \u2014 Iran is world cup While the country is war The match against the first host country is a rare situation in the history of the tournament. Two members of the team spoke in exclusive interviews with The Associated Press during team camp in T\u00fcrkiye. iran national team He explained how the","og_url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/","og_site_name":"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","article_published_time":"2026-06-04T09:37:26+00:00","author":"admin_ok9yktt6","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin_ok9yktt6","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/","name":"AP Exclusive: Iranian players talk about how war is affecting World Cup preparations - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Feb2F562Ffb0908d96a96973baf2afea5a8392F2dff6aaddcfe4ee3bb5ed2545f841d5e.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-06-04T09:37:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Feb2F562Ffb0908d96a96973baf2afea5a8392F2dff6aaddcfe4ee3bb5ed2545f841d5e.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Feb2F562Ffb0908d96a96973baf2afea5a8392F2dff6aaddcfe4ee3bb5ed2545f841d5e.jpeg","width":980,"height":653},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/ap-exclusive-iranian-players-talk-about-how-war-is-affecting-world-cup-preparations\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"AP Exclusive: Iranian players talk about how war is affecting World Cup preparations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/","name":"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","description":"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. Get the latest EPL news, live match updates, transfer rumors, team analysis, fixtures, and exclusive insights for true football fans.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9","name":"admin_ok9yktt6","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin_ok9yktt6"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/eplvip.com"],"url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/author\/admin_ok9yktt6\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}