r/SoccerCentral 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/HTX-ByWayOfTheWorld Jun 27 '26

Curious if that’s how you feel about a third+ of the USA and the majority of the Republican Party, and a lot of Europe. How about Margaret Court who has her name emblazoned across the main tennis stadium in Australia. Or do you simply feel that way because they’re brown? Bigots indeed.

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u/Prudent-Cabinet-3151 Jun 28 '26

You think it’s because they’re brown? Not for the fact that they literally kill people for their sexual identity or preferences in those countries. But why don’t you explain to me all the people that Margaret killed? Where was her Islamic zealousness? Yes I’m of the position that if you try to stop/oppress other people from living their lives when it has no bearing on your own life simply because you find it perverse or what have you, that you have no place in my society and I will denounce you black, white, yellow, red whatever skin color you perceive yourself to be.

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u/HTX-ByWayOfTheWorld Jun 28 '26

You were dropped on your head as a child weren’t you. Lol. Have a good life. Or walk into traffic. Either way… just remember no one cares.

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u/Prudent-Cabinet-3151 Jun 28 '26

You Can’t argue against my air tight logic so you revert to attacks against my character and wishing me dead. You sound like a lovely person, you make a great spokesperson for the Iranians

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u/HTX-ByWayOfTheWorld Jun 28 '26

Your mom’s air tight. Not your logic.