By Sam Tobin
SEATTLE, June 26 (Reuters) - Iran captain Mehdi Taremi questioned whether his side were welcome at the World Cup, strongly criticising the conditions they are playing under in the United States after they drew 1-1 with Egypt on Friday to possibly secure a knockout spot.
Taremi missed an early penalty and crashed a header off the crossbar, before an apparent late winner for Iran, which would have guaranteed progress out of the group stage at the seventh attempt, was ruled out for offside.
The contest threatened to be overshadowed by geopolitics, with some fans waving pre-revolutionary Iranian flags and booing the national anthem – just hours after the United States launched strikes on Iran, with each country accusing the other of violating terms of a ceasefire agreed last week.
Iran has also had to grapple with travel restrictions, though the U.S. said that Iran would be allowed to travel from their Mexican base two days before the game instead of one.
Taremi, however, said conditions were unfair, described the tournament as a logistical "disaster" and called on global governing body FIFA to try to resolve the situation.
"FIFA, they have to solve every problem here but unfortunately they couldn't stop, since the beginning," Taremi told reporters.
He added that FIFA President Gianni Infantino had visited the Iran changing room after their first game "and he said, 'it's just the beginning', but the group-stage finishes tomorrow and we don't have our logistics people here".
Taremi continued: "How (is it) possible we always have to travel to Tijuana? We love the people of Mexico. We love Tijuana, it's so good, they are so humble people.
"We love them. But as professional players, in a professional competition, it's not right."
He also suggested that Iran's presence at the tournament was no longer welcome, though they could find themselves in the round of 32 if results in Saturday's group games go their way.
Taremi asked: "Who wants to help us? Who? If they want us to be out – OK, let's (be) out, let's get out. But that's not fair."
FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside usual office hours.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
