Iran’s captain, Mehdi Taremi, has harshly criticized FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, regarding the management of his country’s World Cup campaign. Despite securing a third consecutive draw in the group stage, Iran must now rely on the results of other matches to qualify for the Round of 32. Following the match, Taremi described the World Cup’s travel and logistical arrangements as a disaster. After Friday’s match, Taremi and his teammates were scheduled to fly from Seattle, USA, back to Tijuana, Mexico. Although the team’s base camp was initially planned for Tucson, Arizona, they relocated it to Mexico in late May due to the ongoing military conflict between the US and Iran. This report was published by The Atlantic.
The conflict involving the US, Israel, and Iran began on February 28. The US and Israel launched a joint military strike that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei; Iran retaliated with counter-attacks. The Iranian team and officials have repeatedly faced complications while traveling to and from the US for matches. Taremi alleges that Infantino failed to fulfill his promise to improve the situation.
Taremi told reporters, “This is a disastrous World Cup; an absolute disaster. FIFA should have resolved every problem here. Unfortunately, they haven’t been able to solve a single issue from the very beginning.” He added, “After our first match against New Zealand, Mr. Infantino came to our dressing room and said, ‘This is just the beginning…'”
Taremi continued, “Our logistics staff aren’t here; they didn’t get visas. How is it possible that we have to commute from Tijuana every time? We love the people of Tijuana. We love Mexico; they are incredibly humble people. But as professional footballers, playing in a professional competition under these conditions isn’t right.” He concluded, “It isn’t fair. In our view, it is not fair at all.” If FIFA considers this fair, that is their prerogative; but we do not. Who actually wants to help us? If they want us to exit the tournament, then fine—we will leave. But it is not fair. We lack recovery specialists and logistics staff to assist us. We constantly complain about these issues, yet no one helps us—absolutely no one.
Speaking at the opening ceremony in Mexico City, Gianni Infantino remarked that, if necessary, he would have driven the team to the World Cup himself—even from Tehran. Taremi, who missed a penalty in the first half of the match against Egypt that ended in a draw, was asked if he felt Iran was unwelcome in the tournament. He replied that they were having to fight against everything here. He added, “I don’t know what people actually want, but from our perspective, it seems this is likely what they desire. How is it possible to return to Tijuana after playing for 90 minutes?”
Following Friday’s draw against Egypt, Iran finished third in Group G. To advance to the Round of 32, they needed the results of Saturday’s remaining group-stage matches to go their way. However, Algeria and Austria drew in Group J, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo defeated Uzbekistan and Croatia beat Ghana. Consequently, Iran was eliminated from the tournament.
