Iran captain, Mehdi Taremi has delivered a scathing criticism of FIFA, claiming his side feels tournament organizers would prefer to see them eliminated from the 2026 World Cup.
Iran’s hopes of reaching the knockout stages for the very first time hang in the balance after a dramatic 1-1 draw with Egypt in the controversial ‘Pride Match’ in Seattle. Taremi’s team saw a last-gasp winner ruled out for offside.
Following Iran’s opening draw against New Zealand, Taremi branded the World Cup a ‘disaster’ and he reiterated those claims on Friday before slamming FIFA for ‘doing nothing’ to help his team.
‘We always complain about these things since the beginning, it’s a disaster World Cup. A disaster,’ he said.
‘As professional players in a professional competition, it’s not right… it’s not fair… if it’s fair for FIFA, okay good for them. But it’s not fair. Who wants to help us… no one helps. No one.’
He added: ‘Who has to solve this problem for us? Who? FIFA? I don’t know. USA. I don’t know – just mention one name for me.
‘[FIFA president Gianni] Infantino came to [our locker room] the first game [against New Zealand] and said we will solve every problem here, but actually FIFA did nothing.’
Iran head coach Amir Ghalenoei said the USA’s behavior towards us has been really terrible, and we hope the world will be aware of that.’
After war broke out with the US and Israel earlier this year, around a dozen members of Iran’s World Cup delegation were denied visas to America. The team was also forced to move its training base to Mexico.
During an astonishing press conference in Seattle, Taremi was asked whether he felt World Cup organizers – including FIFA and the US authorities – would prefer Iran to be knocked out.
‘We have to fight against everything here. I don’t know if people want [that] or not, but as we see it by our perspective, yeah, they are like that, I think,’ he said.
The 1-1 draw means Belgium and Egypt qualify automatically from Group G. Iran are odds on to join them as one the top eight third-place teams, but they must now wait to see if other results go their way.
‘I feel sad, but we have hope,’ said Taremi, who complained once again that Iran’s players have to head back to Tijuana after the game.
‘We always do our best. We play for our people. We want them to be happy because we want to bring the joy,’ he added.
‘We want to send a message of peace for the people in Iran, outside of Iran, for FIFA, for everyone. But there is no peace about the others to us.’