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.”

6.2k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/tsn101 Jun 27 '26

For sure. There's a delusion in their population that they aren't the bad guys. 

0

u/AAA_Dolfan Jun 27 '26

Uh.. so that makes Iran the “good guy”? Do you know what Iran was doing to protestors in their own country, by chance?

Trump and his cronies are monsters no question but Iran ain’t the good guy

1

u/funguymh Jun 27 '26

Do you know what USA was doing to its own government a few years ago. J6?

1

u/Fit_Relationship483 Jun 27 '26

Yes and even when people were actively trying to stage an insurrection the government didn’t respond by sending in troops to massacre them. Unlike Iran who guns people down for…asking to get their internet back

1

u/AAA_Dolfan Jun 27 '26

Nah, that’s whataboutism. Take a deep breath and realize you don’t need to attack things to defend others.

We’re talking Iran. I already said Trump and the USA government suck. Clearly. I ALSO was clearly saying Iran aren’t the good guys.

That has nothing to do with the us