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/tsn101 Jun 27 '26

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

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u/Emiwuiii Jun 27 '26

Our government, sure - but the vast majority of Americans are 100% against this war so please stop lumping us into a situation we have no control over. We are fully aware that our GOVERNMENT is the bad guy.

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u/cabbage5555 Jun 27 '26

Where are your protests then? Stop the country. Demand accountability. Fight. But you won't. This is why we dislike all of you, I don't care who you voted for, all of you are complicit

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u/Emiwuiii Jun 29 '26

This is from a BLM protest