Key to success ...
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I believe many of the challenges surrounding the team today can be traced back to the original decision to participate in a World Cup hosted by the United States. The actions of the US government, from visa issues affecting members of Iran’s delegation to restrictions placed on football federation officials and public statements by American authorities regarding the team’s security, all amounted to a display of disrespect toward Iranian football. Such behavior, in my opinion, should not have gone unanswered.
FIFA, meanwhile, has fallen short in fulfilling its role as an impartial governing body. Promises about containing political distractions and ensuring equal conditions for Iran have not materialized in practice. Once again, this raises an important question: Does FIFA truly act independently, or have political considerations come to make its decisions?
FIFA continues to insist that politics and football should remain separate. Yet in multiple cases, including the exclusion of Russia from the World Cup, it has made decisions that were unmistakably political. At the same time, it has remained silent regarding the host country’s treatment of Iran’s national team.
This reflects a broader problem of double standards within FIFA’s management. If politics is to enter football, it should not be applied selectively to certain countries. Logic and fairness should guide FIFA’s decisions, not political or economic calculations.
Now that Iran is already at the World Cup, the circumstances have changed. From this point forward, what matters most is preserving unity within the team, avoiding distractions and maintaining complete focus on the matches themselves.
Ultimately, both the sporting outcome and the political and media consequences of this participation will be judged by public opinion. At this stage, the national team’s greatest assets are professionalism, composure, discipline and an unwavering focus on football. Iran’s players and coaching staff must devote all their energy to achieving positive results on the field.