June 29 – Iran’s captain Mehdi Taremi labelled the World Cup “a disaster”, criticising FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino before his team’s exit from the tournament.
The Iranians came within a whisker of progressing to the knockout stages: they smashed the woodwork and had a goal ruled out in injury time in their final group game against Egypt which if they had gone in would have qualified them in second place. They then held a spot as one of the best third placed group finishers with Algeria’s 3-2 lead against Austria but lost their spot when the Alpine nation dramatically drew level with Algeria through a 96th-minute header by Sasa Kalajdzic.
After his team’s draw with Egypt, Taremi spoke out once again about the conditions his team had to endure during the tournament.
“It’s a disaster World Cup; a disaster. I mean, FIFA, they have to solve every problem here but unfortunately they could not solve it since the beginning. Mr Infantino came to our changing room after the first game against New Zealand and said, ‘It’s just the beginning…’ but the group stage finishes tomorrow.”
“We don’t have our logistic people here – they don’t have a visa. How is it possible we always have to travel from Tijuana? We love the people in Tijuana. We love Mexico. They are humble people and we love them but as a professional player in a professional competition, it’s not right
“It’s not fair,” said Taremi. “Our opinion is, it’s not fair. Is it fair for FIFA? OK, good to them. But it’s not fair. Who wants to help us? If they want us to be out, then OK; let’s get out. But that’s not fair. We don’t have recovery or logistic people to help us. We always complain about these things but no one helps, no one.”
After Iran’s opening match against New Zealand, Infantino had paid a visit to Iran’s dressing room and promised to help the team.
At the SoFi Stadium, Taremi called the World Cup ‘a disaster’ as well. It had taken the team five hours to travel from Tijuana to Los Angeles, a flight that typically takes 45 minutes. They were held up by US immigration. Iran also had to scrap a recovery practice the following day because authorities required the team to return to Mexico immediately after the match.
In their second group game, Iran held Belgium 0-0 before drawing 1-1 with Egypt. Those three draws could have seen the team progress to the round of 32 as one of the best eight third-placed sides, but they ultimately dropped out of the top eight.
Taremi believed that his team were not welcome at the World Cup in the US. “We have to fight against everything here,” said the Iran captain. “I don’t know what people want. As we see it from our perspective, yeah, they like that I think…how possible is it if we play 90 minutes and we have to go back to Tijuana?”
Iran’s participation at the World Cup became deeply political after co-hosts USA began a war against the Asian country in February. It led to months of unprecedented wrangling over visas, cross-border travel and security arrangements. The Iranians had to shift basecamp from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico. Their time on US soil was also restricted.
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