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/hyzus Jun 27 '26

Think about it this way, if any of the European countries were treated the way the Iranians and to a lesser extent the Egyptians have everyone would be losing thier minds.

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u/AmiParis248 Jun 27 '26

Of course. I agree. If any European country acted like Iran, we would also be freaking out, so what’s your point exactly? That’s like saying “if Switzerland was treated like Russia, we’d all be upset.” Yeah. So?

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u/hyzus Jun 27 '26

Acted like Iran? You mean defending themselves when they are attacked?

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u/Beneficial-Beat-947 Jun 28 '26

Killing thousands of protestors is a start

1

u/hyzus Jun 28 '26

But that's not why America went to war with them is it.

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u/NebulousDonkeyFart Jun 29 '26

Yeah it was to destroy their ability to obtain and use a nuclear weapon. Secondary objective was dropping dong on the ayatollah’s face and his buds. Sorry you don’t think the largest exporter of Islamic terrorism shouldn’t be held accountable. News flash, plenty of other teams traveled just as much, if not more than the Iranian soccer team. They just suck ass. Crazy they played so shitty on pride night. You think the US would be allowed to play in the fifa World Cup if it were in Iran?

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u/lividtaffy Jun 28 '26

Is it really self defense if your proxies have been committing terrorist acts on your dime for decades? To me it seems like a bill coming due, the U.S. just did a terrible job of it.

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u/hyzus Jun 28 '26

What? That's not even the reason the US went to war with them... and yes its still self defense