Amir Galnoi, the head coach of the Iranian soccer team, said about the cancellation of the team's direct flight to Basra that if it had been known that this decision had political reasons, the team would never have gone to Iraq.
"Our flight was supposed to be from Tehran to Basra, but they informed us that a direct flight is not possible," Kalnawi said at a press conference before the match against Palestine. We thought it happened for security reasons, because human life is important to us."
According to him, "If we thought that we were involved in political issues, we would never have come to Basra. Of course, we still don't know what the main reason was. For us, the honor of Iran and the Iranian people is more important than anything else."
The head coach of the national team continued: "Many places chant that football is not political, but the behavior that happened to us in America was a clear example of political behavior."
Regarding the changes in the national team list, Jelnoi also said: "Due to the postponement of the Nations Cup in Asia, we changed the plans and decided to give more opportunities to younger players. We hope that this competition will help them move forward."
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