Some stories write themselves before the tournament has even started.
The 2026 World Cup kicks off on Thursday.
And already one of its most unsettling moments has taken place.
No, not on the pitch.
But at the arrivals gate of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
Iraq’s World Cup striker Aymen Hussein held for seven hours at Chicago airport on arrival
According to L’Equipe, Aymen Hussein was held and questioned by US border authorities for nearly seven hours after arriving with the squad in the early hours of Saturday morning.
He was eventually allowed to enter the country.
The team’s photographer, Talal Salah, was not so fortunate.
After a similar process involving the inspection of his phone, Salah was denied entry to the United States entirely.
Where he spent more than ten hours in detention before being barred from the country.
The incident was confirmed by an official from the Iraqi Olympic Committee who has close ties to the squad.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security have not responded to requests for comment.
But the context behind what happened couldn’t be clearer.
Iraq is a country that has faced heightened scrutiny under the Trump administration’s travel and immigration policies.
With a broad executive order signed last year introducing restrictions that continue to affect Iraqi nationals at US border crossings.
Athletes and their direct support staff were supposed to be protected by a specific carveout in that order for World Cup participants.
However, in practice, that protection clearly did not prevent Hussein from spending seven hours under interrogation before being cleared to enter.
A country returning to the World Cup for the first time since 1986.
The tournament begins in five days.
Yet, the story of what this World Cup represents for Iraq has already been overshadowed by an incident that no sporting event should begin with.
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