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By Seyi Babalola
The United States will not ban Iran from the World Cup competition it is hosting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday, after an official mused about replacing war-torn Iran with Italy, which failed to qualify.
“The problem with Iran, it would be not their athletes. It would be some of the other people that we want to bring with them,” Rubio told reporters, denying Washington had asked the Iranian team not to come.
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However, Italy’s sports minister Andrea Abodi said on Thursday that a reinstatement of Italy “first, is not possible; second, is not appropriate, you qualify on the pitch”, according to Italian news agencies ANSA and AGI.
That view was echoed by the president of Italy’s Olympic committee, Luciano Buonfiglio.
“I would feel offended. You have to earn your place in the World Cup,” he said.
