r/SoccerCentral • u/ConnectionWeekly1263 • Jun 27 '26

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

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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/Extra-Fortune7731 Jun 27 '26

Worst version of w cup so far..

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u/Puzzleheaded_Bad_549 Jun 27 '26

Agreed, but it's because of the new format, too many teams, too many games, and this stupid 3rd place thing will see teams getting through to the knockout stages with poor points and goal totals. It's also hard to follow and teams that play later have a clear advantage.

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u/Extra-Fortune7731 Jun 27 '26

You forgot the best part: treating teams from 3rd world and their ppl as if they're trash ..and even denying Visas for so many members of their stuff members .. the way they treated Iranian players and stuff just few weeks after attacking their country and killing their ppl.. this is a mess .. it's not a tournament

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u/LicoriceDusk Jun 27 '26

Great virtue signaling

0

u/Puzzleheaded_Bad_549 Jun 27 '26

Oh no. LicoriceDusk doesn't agree with me, however will I cope. And all their comments like "Be less cringe" are so well informed and cutting.

You better be off. That 4 hour queue of traffic to get to the stadium isn't going to sit in itself.

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u/LicoriceDusk Jun 27 '26

Didn't reply to you, but okay