Iran calls for ‘fairness and honor’; Teremi slams FIFA
On a day when Cape Verde, an archipelagic country in the central Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of west Africa and with a population of just half a million, scripted history, Iran’s never-say-die spirit in the match against Egypt will be remembered by football fans across the world for a long time.
It was such an exciting game from the opening minutes to the closing seconds in the Seattle Stadium!
Iran’s winning goal was overturned by the VAR check in the dying moments of the match — which could have been a historic win for them for qualifying for the knockout stage for the first time in the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The team now has to wait for results elsewhere to determine whether they advance as one of the tournament’s best third-placed teams.
Iran had qualified for the World Cup on seven occasions — 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026.
Iranian captain Mehdi Taremi fired a broadside against the FIFA authorities after the match describing it as “disaster World Cup” and accused its president Gianni Infantino for their poor and biased handling of his country’s World Cup campaign. “No one helped us,” he rued.
One could well imagine Taremi’s woes which will keep haunting him throughout his life as he had missed the penalty earlier in the match.
Since the team’s arrival in May, they were due to be based in Tucson, Arizona during the tournament but they were shifted to Tijuana, Mexico for the ongoing military conflict in the Middle-East.
Iran has been struggling against all odds since the UN and the US sanctions in 1979. The team had been subject to inhuman treatment in the US since their arrival.
Their misery began after the arrival on the American soil: strict visa denials, travel restrictions, and unspeakable harassment. The team encountered airport delays, was barred from overnight stays, and faced protest and violence directed at their fans.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) has reported multiple instances of verbal abuse, hate-based targeting and physical violence directed at Iranian fans outside their LA matches.
“Seattle called it (Iran-Egypt tie) the Pride Match, FIFA called it whatever the room wanted to hear,” according to a report by The Athletic.
Iran’s football head coach Amir Ghalenoei, has said his team is “the most oppressed team in the whole World Cup”. Iran was forced to return to Mexico immediately after the match against New Zealand, halving typical training and recovery time. Als0, as many as 15 support staff and delegation members were denied entry visas to the US.
The team left a hand-written message after the match calling for “fairness and honor” in their Seattle locker room as they wait to see if a third-place finish is enough to advance to the round of 32. With three Groups playing on Saturday and some of the countries called out by name, the message appears to call on all sides to try and win under the spirit of fair play and settle for results which are mutually convenient but likely to see Iran eliminated.
World Cup is much more than football—it’s a global celebration of unity and camaraderie that brings people from across the world together. Sport and politics mustn’t be mingled. Let football be football.
Friday’s match reminded me of Tagore’s immortal words in his short story, Nastoneer: “Kadambori moriya proman korilen morey nai (In death, Kadambori proved that she hasn’t died)
