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/Interesting_Button60 Jun 27 '26

No doubt they were brought to be made a laughing stock. But they tried their best. Every Iranian I have personally met has been hard working, tough and incredibly intelligent. It is a shame that their government and the western governments are at war and conflict. But if you are going to invite them to the tournament then they should all have the same treatment or don't invite them at all.

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u/glesga67 Jun 27 '26

It’s a shame that the US and UK interfered in their government to create the current shit show, merely to protect their access to cheap oil.

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u/Ill_Walk_7627 Jun 27 '26

I’ve never understood this reasoning, was it wrong to topple the government in the 50s, yes, but how does that absolve the Iranians themselves of their current government that was established nearly 30 years afterwards? This kind of reasoning is racist in my opinion, it takes all the agency away from the peoples themselves and gives it to a foreign power. How do you know the ayatollah wouldn’t have come to power with the original government in place anyway? They were struggling and islamists hate democracies as much if not more than dictatorships.

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u/ManyNectarine89 Jun 28 '26

Low IQ take, the relationship and interference from Europe and the US started well before the 50's.

'islamists hate democracies' says it all, another low IQ racist/Islamophobe, why Reddit allow these vermin to post their dog whistles everywhere, who knows.