With less than a week to go before the 2026 World Cup kicks off, participating nations have been arriving in the United States. It will come as no surprise to hear that this has been difficult for some fans, staff members, and even players.

President Donald Trump currently has 39 countries on his travel ban list, while Iran appear to have had their training camp moved to Mexico, from the originally planned location of Tucson, Arizona, due to the nation’s ongoing conflict with the US. Getting visas into North America is no easy task either.

South Africa recently had to hold an emergency meeting after players and officials were denied visas, preventing them from arriving into Mexico as planned. Iraq have reportedly been the latest nation to have difficulties, this time coming after they’ve made it into the US.

Iraq Star Held For Hours in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport

As per Reuters, Iraq’s World Cup striker, Aymen Hussein, was held and questioned for nearly seven ​hours at Chicago’s O’Hare airport after arriving with the squad ‌early on Saturday morning (6 June). According to an Iraqi sporting official, the 30-year-old was finally allowed in, but the team’s photographer was barred from entering the United States.

While no official comment has yet been made by Iraq on the matter, an official explained that Hussein’s phone was inspected after he arrived. He then added:

Hussein Scored Vital Goal To Send Iraq to 2026 World Cup

Considering Hussein is currently his nation’s fifth all-time top goal scorer – and netted the goal that secured qualification for the World Cup finals – Iraq will be relieved that he was eventually allowed into the host country. After all, Swiss striker Breel Embolo has been denied entry into the US, although that visa issue is said to be related to a past issue with the law.

However, this is far from a warm welcome or ideal preparation for Iraq, who come up against Norway in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on 16 June. They will also play France and Senegal in Group ​I.

Iraq are returning ​to the World Cup for the first time ​since making ⁠their debut 40 years ago, and it’s understood that fans came out in the early hours of the morning to ​greet the squad at the O’Hare airport, holding flags and asking players to ‌pose ⁠for pictures. At this point, Hussein and team photographer Salah were held for hours.

According to Reuters, U.S. Immigration ​and Customs Enforcement and the Homeland Security Department did not immediately respond when quizzed about the incident.

Over the years, Pep Guardiola has come up against many worthy adversaries from within the world of football. It would be wrong to suggest he’s not gotten the better of all of them at one point or another.

Twice, for example, he beat Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United side in the Champions League final. In fact, Mikel Arteta is the only manager to finish ahead of Guardiola in the league twice with Arsenal – doing so in 2024/25 and then again in 2025/26 (although only the latter led to a Premier League title).

With that in mind, it’s no shock to learn that the Catalan coach has won three La Liga titles, three Bundesliga titles, six Premier Leagues, and the Champions League twice during his career as a manager. Talking more recently about his time in England, however, he has revealed one man was a ‘nightmare’ to come up against.

Guardiola Had Many Battles Against Premier League Icon

In an interview with Oasis musician Noel Gallagher on Manchester City’s website, Guardiola said that Jurgen Klopp was a nightmare to come up against when he was in charge of Liverpool. Even though he enjoyed a ‘good’ relationship with the German, he revealed how hard he found it to cope at Anfield, explaining:

Guardiola Had a Lot of Respect For Anfield

Not only was Klopp hard to come up against, but his iconic Liverpool team were boosted by an intimidating home ground. Indeed, Guardiola praised the stadium’s history:

Guardiola was pushed right to his limit in a number of title races, notably beating Liverpool by just one point during the 2018/19 season when Klopp’s men earned 97 points but still lost out. More pain happened for the Reds in 2019/20 when Man City managed 93 points, once again beating the German’s side by one point.

The former Barcelona manager has faced Klopp on 30 occasions across his career in total, coming up against Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool as Bayern Munich and Man City boss. In that time, he’s won 11 matches, drawn seven and lost 12. He’s never drawn or lost more times against any other manager.

They certainly had some legendary battles over the years.

Iran have launched a furious accusation against the USA in a fresh statement released just days before the start of the 2026 World Cup. Team Melli’s conflict with the host nation is nothing new, with complications previously arising over visa issues, safety concerns, and the ongoing tensions in the Middle East during Donald Trump’s presidency.

Despite all of that, Iran will be competing in this summer’s major international tournament. They will base themselves in Mexico rather than Arizona in an effort to make their preparations as straightforward as possible given the geopolitical tensions. They face Egypt, Belgium and New Zealand in Group G, with their opener against the latter coming in Inglewood, California, on June 16.

According to the White House, Iran’s players have already been granted visas allowing them to enter the United States. However, several members of the travelling party’s backroom staff are still awaiting theirs, renewing hostilities at the worst possible time.

Iran Launch Furious Accusation Against USA Ahead of World Cup Opener

As reported by Iran’s state media agency Tasnim, a number of officials, including executive director Mehdi Kharati, the secretary-general of the football federation, Hedayat Mombini, and media director Mohsen Motamedkia, are yet to receive their visas. In a statement on Saturday afternoon, it has accused the USA of “hostile actions”:

Meanwhile, the Turkey-based Iranian Embassy also took to X, posting a similar statement slamming the US for ‘deliberately’ blocking staff members’ visas. “Why do you not say that visas were denied to a large portion of the managerial and executive staff, technical advisers and others who are an integral part of any national football team?” the Iranian embassy posted.

The statement continued: “You have now escalated the deliberate and discriminatory treatment against Iran’s national football team to its highest level.”

Journalists Also Facing Visa Complications

It turns out that Iranian and African journalists were also coming up against the same struggles as Team Melli this weekend. In a letter set to FIFA, the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) president Gianni Merlo wrote: “We find ourselves facing a long-standing and unacceptable problem for us journalists: the denial of entry visas to regularly accredited colleagues.

“We believe it is important to allow colleagues to attend the event and work, because their presence will be crucial to the image of sport and what it represents, especially in a country like the United States of America, where freedom of the press is a must.

“I hope FIFA can do everything possible to secure visas. We’re already significantly behind schedule, and many colleagues have already lost the opportunity to use plane tickets booked on time, and they’ll also face significant additional expenses.”

A FIFA spokesperson confirmed to The Athletic that the organisation had received the letter before adding that this was an immigration matter controlled by the host nations – the US, Mexico and Canada.