Uruguay’s national team have blamed Fifa after a chaotic start to their World Cup campaign following the delay to their travel from their Mexico base to Miami for their first match.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side have travelled to Cancun for final preparations before getting their World Cup underway against Saudi Arabia on Monday but the squad were left waiting as their prepared plane didn’t have clearance to fly to the US.
The problem facing the team was reportedly due to issues with paperwork for the aircraft which meant it had not been approved to take the route from Cancun to Miami.
The Uruguayan team remained at the Mayakoba Complex, a hotel resort about 45 minutes from Cancun International airport, before a solution was found, with the Uruguayan FA left angry with Fifa.
The AUF said: “Due to problems beyond the control of the AUF, the departure from Mexico has been delayed. The squad is resting at the hotel. The new departure time set by FIFA is 4.15pm.”
An AUF spokesperson confirmed to The Athletic that they considered Fifa to be responsible for the problems, though Fifa did not immediately respond after a request for comment.
Bielsa had been scheduled to attend a pre-match press conference at the Miami Stadium at 8pm EST on Sunday, with no confirmation over a new time or a complete cancellation.
Uruguay legend Diego Forlan appeared upset at the situation, writing: “Who is to blame???,” Forlan wrote, followed by “Arriba Uruguay!!”
The Independent has contacted Fifa for comment.
Uruguay’s plight is one of a number of travel issues that teams and individuals have faced when travelling to the US for the tournament.
Somalian referee, Omar Artan, was famously denied entry into the country due to unspecified “vetting concerns” despite being on the list of approved Fifa employees and Palestine’s football chief, Jibril Rajoub, revealed on Friday that he is still awaiting permission to enter the country.
Iran, meanwhile, are claiming its fan ticket allocation has been revoked – just one week before their first match against New Zealand in Los Angeles with the country’s football federation (FFIRI) stating last Tuesday that it is a decision which will “sabotage the presence of Iranian fans”.
Elsewhere, Ghana’s Thomas Partey was denied entry to Canada, due to previously being charged with seven counts of rape and one count of sexual assault by London’s Metropolitan Police. Fifa confirmed in a statement: “FIFA can confirm that player Thomas Partey will be unable to travel from Ghana’s team base camp … to Canada for their first match against Panama … as his visa application has been refused by the Canadian government.”
Uruguay play their first two group stage matches in Miami, taking on Saudi Arabia on June 15 before facing Cape Verde on June 21. They travel back to Mexico for their final group game against Spain on June 27.
