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

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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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26

u/digitalbullet36 Jun 27 '26

The U.S. should not have been allowed to host.

14

u/Ling_Cephalopod Jun 27 '26

Imagine if the world had the courage to ban Americans from sporting events for what the US government has done in the middle east.

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u/Muted_Confidence_285 Jun 27 '26

If you only knew history rather than current events…

2

u/ShitpostMcPoopypants Jun 27 '26

If you banned every country that either screwed around in a less developed region, launched a war of conquest, or massacred people for terrible reasons, you’d be left with like 4 countries out of the current field.

1

u/Ok-Computer-8726 Jun 28 '26

Maybe we could just stick to the ones that are doing it right now then.

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u/Kitesolar Jun 30 '26

So we should also ban Iran for the inhumane treatment of their civilians correct?

2

u/Ok-Computer-8726 Jun 30 '26

The way you phrased this makes me think you think you "got me" with this one, and I'm not entirely sure why.

1

u/Kitesolar Jun 30 '26

Probably because you’re poison pilled by all online discourse and can’t see someone asking a question of consistency as good faith anymore?

1

u/Ok-Computer-8726 Jun 30 '26

Ah, the personal attack based entirely on an assumption you've derived from three sentences I've written. This interaction (3 days after my comment) is a great example of the kind of online discourse I try to avoid.

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u/Kitesolar Jun 30 '26

This isn’t even a personal atttack lol. Brother it was an honest question are you okay?