There has been chaos surrounding Iran's participation and the US visa policy, which, among other things, prevented top official Omar Artan of Somalia from attending.
That's part of what's been in focus recently. At a press conference in Greensboro, where Norway is based, national team captain Ståle Solbakken says:
"I think everyone agrees that a lot could have been different, but we are all hypocrites. You are hypocrites and we are hypocrites. Now it's the World Cup and we are here to play football, but there are a lot of other things we could have talked about," he says, mentioning, among other things, the fact that the host country, the United States, is at war with Iran.
Norway will face Iraq in their first match on June 17 in Boston.
