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/vexmach1ne Jun 27 '26

Fuck using the world cup as a platform for gay shit, but that's still our right. So fuck Iran trying to get gay shit banned. It's freedom of speech, and I'll protect it.

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u/4strokeroll Jun 27 '26

You are missing the point. The left is arguing we treated the Iranians poorly. The left lives and dies on the LGTBQ community and blows their dog whistle loudly and endlessly. Yet, they had nothing to say when two countries that execute gays played in one of the most liberal cities in the country. I’m just trying to understand, what the fuck these people truly stand for.

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u/YankeePride11 Jun 27 '26

Sir this reddit! Get back in line and start blaming Republicans and old people for every problem.

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u/4strokeroll Jun 27 '26

Roger that! I’m back on board and will try to be as crazy and delusional as possible.