Costa Rica cancels friendly match with Iraq due to passport issue
The Costa Rican football team. Photo: AFP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Costa Rica’s football team cancelled its warm-up friendly match against the Iraqi national team scheduled on Thursday ahead of the World Cup in Qatar, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
Negotiations took place between the Iraq Football Association (IFA) and its Costa Rican counterpart to reverse the decision of the Costa Rican team to cancel the match scheduled for this evening in Basra.
Costa Rica decided on Thursday to cancel the friendly match after its delegation, which was travelling to Iraq by bus on Wednesday night, was not allowed to enter the country without their passports being stamped.
Although the Iraqi government allocated a private jet to transport the Costa Rican team from Kuwait to Basra, the Costa Rican team still refuses to return to play the match.
An official in the Costa Rican Football Association mentioned that Iraq-Costa Rica match was canceled as the Iraqi authorities insisted to stamp the delegation’s passports despite the Costa Rican federation’s negotiations not to do so.
The Costa Rican official added that the Costa Rican national team returned to Kuwait after the insistence of the Iraqi authorities to stamp the passports of the team members.
The Iraqi national team was scheduled to play its first friendly match with its new Spanish coach Jesus Casas against the Costa Rican national team at 5 p.m. local time in Basra.
According to a source in the IFA, more than 35,000 tickets have been sold so far.