Iran football federation chief says World Cup participation in US is in doubt

Iran’s football federation president Mehdi Taj has given a bleak outlook regarding the World Cup in summer in the United States, Mexico and Canada the day after the US and Israel started air attacks against his country.“What is certain is that after this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” Taj told sports portal Varzesh3 on Sunday.“The US regime has attacked our homeland and this is an incident that will not go unanswered.”Iran has been drawn into Group G at the World Cup with Belgium, New Zealand and Egypt. They will play their three matches in the US.The governing body FIFA said it is monitoring the situation. Andrew Giuliani, director of the White House World Cup task force, said on social media on Saturday: “We’ll deal with soccer games tomorrow – tonight, we celebrate their opportunity for freedom.”Team preparations for the World Cup will be hampered because no matches will be played during a 40-day mourning period for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the attacks on Saturday.