Egypt and Iran meet June 26, at 8 p.m. at Seattle Stadium with first place in World Cup Group G on the line.

For Bellevue fans, the 2 Line puts the match a direct light rail ride away, with trains running every 8–15 minutes and Sound Transit recommending International District/Chinatown Station for Eastside passengers.

But the buildup has been anything but routine.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced June 23, that Iran's national team would be permitted to enter the country two days before the match, arriving Wednesday, June 24. For Iran's first two games in Los Angeles, the team was allowed in only 24 hours before kickoff, then required to fly back to its base camp in Tijuana, Mexico.

Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, told the Associated Press: "This was planned on our end. We were going to look at how the first two movements went, and if they went smoothly, we would extend the extra day in light of the longer travel time."

The 1,200-mile trip from Tijuana to Seattle prompted the change. Iran is scheduled to train Thursday, June 25, at the University of Washington. The team must still leave the U.S. the evening of the match.

Iran head coach Amir Ghalenoei has called his squad "the most oppressed team in the whole World Cup." Thirteen members of Iran's support staff were denied U.S. visas entirely and have remained in Mexico throughout the tournament.

Egypt has its own grievance. National Team Director Ibrahim Hassan said "security officials" rejected Egypt's request to fly directly from Vancouver to Seattle after its 3-1 win over New Zealand on Monday, June 22. Hassan did not specify which country's officials made the decision. FIFA said parties couldn't agree on a security plan in time. Egypt returned to its base camp in Spokane, a 45-minute flight from Seattle.

The group picture

Egypt leads Group G with four points (one win, one draw). Iran sits second with two points from draws against New Zealand and Belgium. A win Friday clinches first place for Egypt. Iran needs a win plus a Belgium loss or draw to top the group.

Riding the 2 Line to the match

Link light rail set an all-time ridership record of 280,000 boardings on Friday, June 19, for the USA-Australia match, according to Sound Transit. The agency deployed all three-car trains on the 2 Line for earlier World Cup games to maximize capacity.

A U.S. win in the Round of 32 on Wednesday, July 1, in Santa Clara would set up a Round of 16 match against Friday's Group G winner, with Seattle as a possible host on Monday, July 6.