Norwegian coach Stale Solbakken says 'World Cup organizers are hypocrites'

[p][b]"You are hypocrites, we are hypocrites - and now there is a World Cup here, and we are here to play football."[/b][/p][p]That was the response from Norwegian national team coach [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/solbakken-stale/pxok8eTM/"]Stale Solbakken[/a] when he was asked about [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/iraq/K8aAGt6r/"]Iraq[/a]'s [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hussein-ayman/Aq6AX0QC/"]Aymen Hussein[/a], the forward who was cross-examined for nearly seven hours during his entry into Chicago.[/p][p][b]"I think we all agree that was unnecessary",[/b] said Solbakken. [/p][p]It was the start of a series of questions about what he thinks about the fact that several non-sports-related events have affected the build-up to the championships, which are played in Canada, Mexico, and the USA.[/p][embed guid="d3b0f257-89b9-4594-a922-de9ff393e5a0" url="https://x.com/TimBuckleyWX/status/2064865644810514615" social-type="twitter" /][p][b]"I also think we can all agree that there is a lot that could have been different, but we are all hypocrites. There are a lot of different things I could have wanted to talk about. There are several situations that, of course, could have been done differently",[/b] he said.[/p][p]Solbakken had the opportunity to elaborate on what he meant by "other things we might like to talk about". Then he touched on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.[/p][p]"I actually think about it a lot. Everything from the fact that the host country is at war with another nation ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/iran/xrRx85iA/"]Iran[/a]), to challenges like the one you brought up now", replied the national team manager, referring to the visa problems.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/norway/8rP6JO0H/"]Norway[/a] will face Iraq in its first game on Wednesday, 17 June.[/p]