Iran captain Mehdi Taremi is showing his leadership qualities by standing up for his teammates at the 2026 World Cup.
The former Inter Milan and FC Porto striker has been the squad’s most vocal member amid a shambolic tournament for the country currently under attack from co-hosts USA plus allies Israel.
Iran’s participation at the tournament was under huge doubt up until kick-off, and in the end they arrived, only for strict border checks to hold things up considerably.
Iran have since moved their training camp out of the US to Mexico, but had to play their opener, a 2-2 draw against New Zealand, in California.
Iran ask for FIFA’s help
And as Taremi revealed, things again became ridiculous post-match.
“We have to leave Los Angeles immediately and this is not good for us,” he said. “I think FIFA has to help us, this is a disaster for us.”
Coach Amir Ghalenoei added: “They didn’t give us time to recover. After the game they told us ‘you have to leave immediately’.
“For us it’s very important to have recovery time, but they asked us to get back on the plane and return to Tijuana. We are very upset about all this.
“Iran is the most oppressed team in this World Cup. Honestly, I don’t know why they’re forcing us to return so quickly.
“I think this is all very strange, it seems like other people are planning things for us, that the decisions are being made elsewhere…
“We were supposed to arrive two nights before the game, sleep here and only return tomorrow, around lunchtime. I have no idea what happened.”
He then explained how the conditions were impacting the squad physically.
Ghalenoei continued: “We didn’t make the substitutions due to technical reasons.
“The fact that they delayed our arrival and forced us to leave early, without time to recover, makes everything much more difficult.”
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