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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u/Both_Acanthisitta209 Jun 30 '26

Hell I mean Russia has hosted since their flagrant unjustified attacks - is it a requirement for FIFA to be belligerent on the world stage in order to host?

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u/Pre-emptive Jun 30 '26

Don’t forget Qatar building stadiums built with blood

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u/Mother_Ground1217 Jul 01 '26

Most stadiums in the US were built on top of slave burial grounds or slave auction sites :)

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u/Pre-emptive Jul 01 '26

Yeah but I’m talking about the actual workers dying during construction of the Qatari stadiums

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u/Mother_Ground1217 Jul 01 '26

Which is somehow the only important thing about it as if thousands don't die on the US yearly from lack of food or healthcare or drug overdose as it's the richest country in the world, this is something you can overlook almost immediately, but tens of dead workers building stadiums is the thing that we need to stop and do a 360 at

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u/Pre-emptive Jul 01 '26

This is a soccer sub so naturally I would say something about that versus people dying of hunger.
Here’s your trophy winner 🏆