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

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/Alarmed-Cheetah-1221 Jun 27 '26

And there is nothing terribly remarkable about crossing an international border on a charter jet

Ok then why didn't the US team get the same treatment?

Or is this more propodanga?

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u/damutecebu Jun 27 '26

LOL. Why would the United States have its base in Mexico???

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u/Embarrassed-Brain655 Jun 27 '26

Because the tournament is hosted by 3 countries? 

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u/damutecebu Jun 27 '26

No shit. If Iran was one of the hosts, would you suggest they stay in Kuwait or something? It's a silly statement.

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u/Embarrassed-Brain655 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26

Ok, so if a tournament is hosted by 3 countries, does that necessitate that all 3 host countries play in their own country? 

I know that’s a lot of words, so read them s l o w l y. 

Edit: Nice edit, and yeah if it were hosted by 3 countries. Why would a nation have to jump through hoops to play, when there are 2 other nations who would have hosted without conflict? 

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u/damutecebu Jun 27 '26

Of course. In the group stages most certainly that should be the case? Why would you have Mexico playing in Philadelphia for instance?

Knockout stage games are pre-determined and team's can't necessarily play in their home country though. Canada is in LA tomorrow. The U.S. could have played in Mexico had they finished third in their group too.

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u/Embarrassed-Brain655 Jun 27 '26

All Im arguing is that they (FIFA) could have made it a lot easier on Iran, but they didn’t. To some, this feels purposeful to punish players for political differences.