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Costa Rica forced to CANCEL World Cup friendly warm-up with Iraq in Basra after deal not to stamp passports was broken at border with Kuwait…with chance to prepare for opening match with lost Spain
- Costa Rica traveled from their training base in Kuwait to the Iraqi border
- They were scheduled to play Iraq in a friendly in Basra on Thursday
- The delegation thought they had an agreement that their passports would not be stamped
- But this was not the case and it was decided to cancel the match
- It has dented their preparations for the World Cup opener with Spain
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Costa Rica’s World Cup preparations suffered a setback when a scheduled friendly match with Iraq had to be canceled due to a passport issue.
The Costa Rican delegation was en route by bus to Thursday’s game in Basra from their training base in Kuwait.
They had requested the Iraqi government not to stamp their passports when crossing the border, but the authorities did not honor the agreement.
Costa Rica canceled a World Cup warm-up against Iraq on Thursday over a passport issue
They were scheduled to play at Basra International Stadium in the friendly match on Thursday
There was concern that the Iraqi passport stamp would cause problems in future entry into other countries.
As a result, it was decided to cancel the friendly match and stay in Kuwait, putting a dent in Costa Rica’s tournament preparations as this was their last warm-up match.
“The match against Iraq has been suspended,” the Costa Rican federation said in a statement.
“An agreement made with passports not to be stamped was not respected and it was therefore decided not to enter Iraq and to cancel the match.”
Costa Rica beat Nigeria in a friendly in San Jose last week, but were not given a chance for a final match before the World Cup kicks off
The team has hosted one preliminary friendly match, defeating Nigeria in San Jose on November 9. They also played friendlies against South Korea and Uzbekistan in September.
Costa Rica made it to the World Cup in Qatar after they beat New Zealand 1-0 in an inter-confederation play-off in June.
They will travel to Qatar on Friday and open their group campaign against Spain on Wednesday, before taking on Japan on November 27 and Germany on December 1.