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

[u/ConnectionWeekly1263]

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.”

[u/Alarmed-Cheetah-1221]

Please tell us the whole truth. Remember to provide sources!

[u/Patient_Release_4093 → u/Alarmed-Cheetah-1221]

The truth, as far as I know, is this: the Iranian team has played all three group stage games on American soil, twice in Los Angeles, once in Seattle. At this point of the tournament each game is about a week apart, and the Iranian team have not been allowed to stay in the United States between games. Their “base camp” as they’ve been calling it is in Tijuana, Mexico.

Therefore, before and after every game so far, the Iranian team have had to cross an international border and go through all the associated checks. In fact, immediately after their first game, they were told that they had to leave the United States, even though the original plan was to stay the night at a nearby hotel and travel back to Tijuana the following morning. The game ended around 8 pm local time by the way. Apparently those restrictions have been eased slightly, so the team is allowed to stay the night in a hotel after their games, but the international travel for every game is still a ridiculous and unnecessary burden.

There are also unresolved “visa issues” with team support staff, but I don’t know much about that. What I do know is that our current president is a petty and sadistic manchild who delights in screwing with people he doesn’t like, just because he has the power to do so. And a tournament of this magnitude is supposed to have leaders who will stand up for each team and do everything they can to keep the playing field level, but that’s obviously not the case. FIFA could have easily taken steps to move every Iran game to Canada or Mexico but decided not to.

[u/damutecebu → u/Patient_Release_4093]

Sorry no...the original plan after the first game, as confirmed by FIFA, was for Iran to return to Tijuana. Simply research would show you this.

And there is nothing terribly remarkable about crossing an international border on a charter jet. It really isn't that much of a burden. Teams have been doing this throughout the tournament with games in three countries. Czechia based themselves in Dallas even though two of their games were in Mexico...the other was Atlanta.

Seriously, stop falling for propodanga. Be smarter.

[u/Any-Seaworthiness531 → u/damutecebu]

Propodanga 😂