Gianni Infantino was in attendance as Iran beat Costa Rica 5-0

This was insisted on Tuesday by FIFA President Gianni Infantino Iran will be on world championship despite the conflict between the country and the United States while attending their 5-0 friendly win over Costa Rica.

Infantino was a spectator at the match in Turkey, where Iran’s players held pictures of some of the victims of US and Israeli airstrikes during the national anthems.

Iran must play all of its group matches in the US, although the Iranian Football Federation has requested that those competitions be moved to Mexico.

But speaking at half-time of Iran’s emphatic victory, Infantino told AFP: « Iran will be in the World Cup. That’s why we’re here. We’re happy because they’re a very, very strong team, I’m very happy.

« I saw the team, I spoke to the players and the coach, so everything is fine.

Infantino added that Iran’s matches « will be played where they should be according to the draw ».

Mehdi Taremi scored twice and provided an assist as Iran easily cruised to victory.

The Netherlands settle for a draw

The Netherlands were held to a 1-1 draw by Ecuador in their penultimate friendly before heading to the World Cup.

The Orange had an impressive 2-1 win over Norway last week but were disappointed by the South Americans despite taking the lead in the second minute through a Willian Pacho own goal.

But the game changed when Denzel Dumfries brought down Gonzalo Plata as the latter defender was immediately sent off.

Plata then won a penalty as he was fouled by Netherlands goalkeeper Mark Flecken, who failed to respond to Enner Valencia’s spot-kick.

Ecuador failed to capitalize further on their superior numbers, although draws with Morocco and the Netherlands represented a solid international break for La Tri.

The Netherlands will face Algeria in De Kuip in June in their farewell match before heading to North America.

Morocco, a 2022 World Cup semi-finalist, won 2-1 over Paraguay thanks to goals from Bilal El Hanous and Neil El Ainaoui.

Senegal, who were was stripped of the 2025 African Cup of Nations title this month amid the lingering effects of their controversial final with Morocco, won 3-1 over Gambia but there was defeat for another African entrant at this summer’s World Cup.

South Africa suffered a 2-1 loss to Panama in the second meeting in five days between the two countries. The first match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Marcel Sabitzer scored the only goal of the game as Austria beat South Korea 1-0, while their neighbors Switzerland drew 0-0 with Norway.

Other results

• Serbia 2-1 Saudi Arabia
• Haiti 1-1 Iceland
• Jordan 2-2 Nigeria
• Algeria 0-0 Uruguay