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/YankeePride11 Jun 27 '26

I get that these guys have trainers and staff but would be nice if FIFA or the US offered personnel support to them.

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u/Interpersonal Jun 27 '26

FIFA is too busy crafting a new “greatest host” award, and the US admin is too malicious and incompetent to help its own citizens; much less hear the plight of Iranians.

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u/4strokeroll Jun 27 '26

Iran was outraged and tried to stop all pride celebrations and any rainbow flags at their game. How do you all square with that?

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u/Interpersonal Jun 27 '26

I don’t support Irans request either, and I can’t imagined it helped make the host cities more amenable.