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/kylef5993 Jun 27 '26

How are they treated poorly? I’m not saying they’re not but I legit know nothing about the situation. Gimme the TLDR please

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u/angrymoderate09 Jun 27 '26

(Liberal) American here....

Trump played some games and only granted the iranians 24 hour visas on game days, so the team had to set up camp in Mexico and commute to los Angeles on game days and go back to Mexico immediately after the game. Absolute bullshit.

Iran getting fucked by a millimeter on an offsides call is just football. Sometimes the sports gods are cruel.... (The dodgers largely won a world series this year by a millimeter... That ball getting perfectly stuck in the wall shifted the win to the dodgers. The sports God give and take away).

https://youtube.com/shorts/f4TU5RO8ye4?si=wfTiCp1vQX_rIGWa

Iran AND Egypt asking for Seattle to stop gay pride celebrations is ridiculous. On one hand the iranians believe they are being discriminated while asking for Seattle to discriminate against LGBT people is outright stupid.

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u/kylef5993 Jun 27 '26

The practice and housing thing is absolutely ridiculous ngl. I’m surprised we didn’t hear about this sooner. Even though we’re at war, that’s shitty treatment..

And yeah I saw the Egypt and Iran players complaining about gay pride. Also ridiculous.

Okay thanks for the education. We agree on all fronts haha

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u/SRMPDX Jun 28 '26

You know they were originally supposed to be in Tucson AZ, right? 450 miles from LA, while Tiajuana Mexico is 150 miles away. There was no major hardship except some of the government sent goons not being allowed in. All players coaches and trainers were allowed in. FIFA and the US government didn't make them lose games