FIFA blunder? World Cup team’s plane grounded | OneFootball

The entry issues have already caused quite a stir at the World Cup. Less than 24 hours before their opener, Uruguay’s national team also suffered a major setback in terms of ideal preparation. 

Their flight from Cancún to Miami was unable to take off due to missing documents, as reports say FIFA had failed to arrange the necessary permits for the overland flight in time. A fairly major fiasco that kept La Celeste at their World Cup base camp in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

The Guardian asked the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) whether it had been a FIFA mistake, and a spokesperson for the federation agreed: "Due to issues beyond the AUF’s control, the departure from Mexico was delayed."

For several hours, the AUF worked intensively behind the scenes to arrange a replacement flight.

Meanwhile, FIFA made it clear to ESPN that the fault had lain with the airline: "The airline apologized for the inconvenience caused. During the delay, FIFA remained in close contact with Uruguay’s national team." Together with the airport and other partners, they had worked to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

For Marcelo Bielsa’s team, these circumstances are of course far from ideal ahead of their World Cup opener against Saudi Arabia. The scheduled press conference with the coach and captain José María Giménez was also canceled.

However, Bielsa stressed that the circumstances "did not cause a problem."

In the end, a flight was eventually arranged, albeit with a significant delay. Giménez did not quite see it the same way as his coach: "We had a few complications and it was difficult." But the team had made the best of it and recovered at the hotel.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 ETIENNE LAURENT - AFP or licensors