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Canadian soccer authorities cancelled an upcoming pleasant in opposition to Iran on Thursday following a backlash in opposition to the sport led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Canada’s sport in opposition to fellow World Cup qualifiers Iran in Vancouver on June 5 was seen by Canadian soccer authorities as pivotal preparation for this 12 months’s finals in Qatar in one of many few remaining worldwide home windows of 2022.
Nonetheless, the fixture provoked a storm of controversy, with Trudeau voicing opposition to the sport, describing it this week as a “unhealthy concept.”
Stinging criticism additionally got here from the households of passengers killed when Iranian armed forces shot down Ukraine Worldwide Airways flight PS752 after take-off from Tehran on January 8, 2020.
Eighty-five Canadian residents and everlasting residents have been among the many 176 individuals who perished within the tragedy, which the Iranian armed forces later described as a mistake.
“Canada Soccer has cancelled the worldwide match that was scheduled for five June 2022 in opposition to Iran as a part of the lads’s nationwide group preparations for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022,” Canada Soccer mentioned in a quick assertion Thursday.
The cancellation was welcomed by the Canadian authorities.
“We commend Canada Soccer for making this determination and we sit up for cheering on our males’s soccer group through the 2022 World Cup,” sports activities minister Pascale St-Onge mentioned.
– ‘Unhealthy concept’ –
In remarks to Canadian media on Tuesday, Trudeau had hinted that the delegation of gamers and officers from Iran could not have been allowed into the nation.
“I’ve expressed my concern that I believe this sport was a nasty concept. I can guarantee you that Sport Canada has not delivered any funding for this sport,” Trudeau mentioned.
“And by way of the flexibility of these gamers to come back to Canada and the groups to come back to Canada, the border providers companies make skilled and impartial choices on eligibility for folks to come back to Canada.”
Strain on Canada Soccer had intensified all through the week, notably after studies emerged stating that the Canadian federation was paying $400,000 to Iran for its participation within the fixture.
“This conduct by Canada Soccer is repugnant,” Canada’s Excessive Commissioner to the UK Ralph Goodale wrote on Twitter.
“It calls into query each the competence and the values of the group,” added Goodale, a former particular advisor to Trudeau on the PS752 tragedy.
Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman in the meantime accused authorities of creating the households of PS752 victims “relive the grief and trauma” by inviting Iran’s footballers to Canada.
“The very last thing that our nation must be doing is partaking in cordial dialogue with an oppressive and harmful regime,” Lantsman wrote.
The lawmaker welcomed the choice to cancel the fixture on Thursday.
“An overdue however welcomed determination on the trail to justice,” Lantsman wrote on Twitter.
“Canada’s coverage with the damaging Iranian regime is, one in every of managed engagement. Sportswashing by the regime — is just not that.”
Canada’s soccer group certified for the World Cup in March for the primary time in 36 years, rising because the shock bundle of regional qualifiers to succeed in the event in Qatar forward of Mexico and the US.
Canada’s solely different World Cup look got here on the 1986 finals in Mexico.
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