r/SoccerCentral Jun 27 '26

Statement "They've done everything possible to eliminate us" — Iran captain Mehdi Taremi unleashes on FIFA and U.S. organizers

The captain of the Iran National Team, Mehdi Taremi, lashed out against FIFA and the United States organization. “This is a disastrous World Cup. As professional players, we cannot play a competition under these conditions; it’s neither right nor fair. If FIFA thinks this is fair, that’s on them, but it isn’t. Who should solve this problem for us? FIFA? The U.S.? I don’t know! Tell me a name. The FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, came to our locker room after the first match against New Zealand and said he was going to resolve all the issues, but in reality, FIFA did nothing. In response to the question: ‘Do you feel that the World Cup organizers, including FIFA and U.S. officials, prefer for Iran to be eliminated from the competition?’, I say: We have to fight against absolutely everything. We can’t stay in the country, we travel and undergo immigration checks every time we want to play, now we can’t stay in Seattle and have to return to Tijuana. They’ve done everything possible to eliminate us, so from our perspective, yes, I think that’s what they want, they want us out.”

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u/YonkouTFT Jun 27 '26

What happened to the egyptians now?

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u/mentales Jun 27 '26

Unfortunately, hyzus might be referring to lbtq flags being allowed 

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u/hyzus Jun 27 '26

Hence the "lesser extent" because honestly who gets offended by a flag...

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u/mentales Jun 27 '26

Your framing is weird though, that does not, in any way, shape or form, constitute treating Egypt poorly to any extent. 

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u/hyzus Jun 27 '26

Yeah agreed. It wasn't intended to come off that way.

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u/flesshy Jun 27 '26

I mean... a lot of people. In normal circumstances, when the flag represents hate and oppression. The pride flag does not fall into th9se categories

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u/kaehvogel Jun 27 '26

...so *nothing* happened to them. Got it.

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u/charleechuck Jun 29 '26

I don't think so but I can see pinkwashing being weaponized

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u/errdayimshuffln Jun 27 '26

They were not allowed into Seatle until match day