An Iranian soccer player is responding to “oppressive” and “disastrous” treatment of the team during the World Cup.
Striker Mehdi Taremi claimed the Iran national team was kicked out of the United States immediately following their 2-2 draw against New Zealand in Los Angeles on Monday.
Taremi pleaded with FIFA to help fix the “unfair” situation.
“Everything is like a disaster actually for us,” Taremi said.
Before the tournament began, there was an agreement in place that Iran’s team would fly in and out of the U.S. on the days they play their group stage matches, all of which take place in the States.
The arrangement is due to the war involving the U.S. and Iran that has continued since February.
President Donald Trump warned the Iranian team not to come “for their own life and safety.”
Iran moved its original World Cup base from Arizona to Mexico. Nearly a dozen members of the team were initially denied visas.
Now, the team is claiming they were originally supposed to stay in the U.S. overnight for recovery purposes and train the next morning before returning to their base in Tijuana.
However, FIFA president Gianni Infantino visited the players in the dressing room post-match, where Iran head coach Amir Ghalenoei and Taremi suggested American authorities were forcing the team to fly back to Mexico immediately against their wishes.
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“We have to leave Los Angeles right now, and it’s not good for us. It’s not good for the football, because in a World Cup, you have to prepare good for the next game, because it is a lot of stress for the players and the staff and everyone. But we don’t have that support and I think FIFA has to help us more than this,” Taremi said.
Taremi followed by sharing that the team asked Infantino why they were being kicked out. When asked Infantino’s response, Taremi replied, “He just wants to help us.”
Ghalenoei put his thoughts plainly: “Our team is the most oppressed one in the whole World Cup.”
There is an understanding that Infantino told the team that he would do his best to make sure more Iranian officials, who haven’t received visas, could enter the US for the last two group stage matches.
The tension lingers as Trump announced this week that a deal to end the war with Iran is “all signed.”
The official signing ceremony will take place in Switzerland on Friday.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
