'We were on road for 40 hours': Iran coach lays bare team's ordeal as FIFA World Cup knockout hopes hang in balance

Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei praised his team’s resilience after their frustrating 0-0 stalemate with Belgium in FIFA World Cup. He also addressed that recovering ahead of their must-win Group G fixture against Egypt won’t be easy for the team.

After the match, Ghalenoi spoke about the difficulties and obstacles his players have faced, especially over the past few months.

"Before I answer the question, I want to go back to the past six months; six months ago, we were in a state of war and our league was closed. We were on the road for 40 hours to go to another country and play," he told the Iranian news agency ISNA, as quoted by ANI.The coach said logistical challenges, including visa complications and travel disruptions, severely affected Iran's preparations for the World Cup."We entered the World Cup in the worst possible conditions, and I wanted the whole world to know this," Ghalenoei said."We have to go and fly right now, and it's exhausting. They won't even let us recover."We have to show up with a special plan against Egypt. They have great players like Belgium. We need to recover more than anything now," Ghalenoei said.The head coach added, "No team in the world makes two trips in 16 hours.

The conditions are very difficult for us. Our players really sacrifice and go out on the field with their hearts, and history will remember them as great."Despite multiple obstacles and disruptions, Ghalonei believed in his squad’s ability to defeat Belgium."We witnessed a very beautiful match, and we played against the 10th-ranked team in the world. They had great players and a great coach. Both they could have won against us, and we had a chance to win," he said."Overall, it is a good achievement that we achieved a draw in two consecutive games under these conditions. We arrived at the match venue with less than 16 hours to go, and this is an achievement that will go down in history, and players will be remembered for their greatness," he added.The Iran coach hailed Alireza Beiranvand, who recieved the superior Player of the Match Award for an extraordinary seven-save effort."He is one of the most honoured goalkeepers in Iranian history and is very intelligent and experienced, and today was one of his good days," the coach said.Attention now shifts to Saturday's showdown against Egypt in Seattle. With Iran still firmly in contention for a place in the knockout rounds, it will need to overcome recent setbacks and deliver a strong performance in the deciding Group stage match of their World Cup campaign.