Message of support!

[persian8iran]

Hello everyone,
As some of you know, I am Portuguese and I have a deep affection for Iran and the Iranian people. That affection began through my passion for the Iranian national team.

Regardless of who was in power (government) when I first started following Iran, back in 2004 during the Asian Cup quarter final against South Korea, I watched an Iran match on television and from that moment on, Iran became like a "football club" that I truly love. It is difficult to explain.

Since then, I have visited Iran several times (five times) for both: work and tourism, and I have continued to support Team Melli. On top of that, I have worked for and represented Professor Carlos Queiroz throughout Asia, which brought me even closer to Iran and the Iranian people.

On Monday night into Tuesday morning Lisbon time (03:00), I will be awake here, supporting the national team from my sofa, and I wish the team nothing but the very best!

If this message offends anyone politically, please remember that when I started following Iran, it was already the Islamic Republic of Iran, and that has not changed since then. My support has always been for the country, its people, and its national team, and I am certainly not going to stop supporting Iran.

Every four years, I eagerly await the World Cup, and many times my interest in the matches involving my own Portuguese national team at World Cup actually grows once Iran has been eliminated. I still remember how disappointed I was in 2009 when Iran failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. At that moment, I promised myself that I would never miss a single Iran match, whether at home or in the stadium.

Interestingly, the only Iran matches I have attended in person were in Saint Petersburg (the 1–0 victory over Morocco in 2018) and in Qatar (the 2–0 victory over Wales). Those were Iran's last two World Cup victories in this centaur.

Good luck to all the players and wish everyone peace and great entertainingly time!

Come on, Team Melli!

[Sam van Dam]

Thanks for your support!

you are one of us!

[Iran_19]

Thanks for beautiful words, welcome back!

[daggerhashimoto]

You're not going to get love here.
This forum is a shell of what it used to be. Now it's just a circle jerk of TM hate from arm-chair revolutionaries who seem to believe that the TM center backs are somehow responsible for IR's foreign policy.

But anyway, obrigado, irmão.

[Shahin K]

You're not going to get love here.
This forum is a shell of what it used to be. Now it's just a circle jerk of TM hate from arm-chair revolutionaries who seem to believe that the TM center backs are somehow responsible for IR's foreign policy.

But anyway, obrigado, irmão.

who the fck can even play football when their government killed thousandsss of their own and want regime change?? You think if a country like Belgium killed 10.000 of their people it would calmly play a wc and the Belgians would cheer for their country????

[Afat11]

You're not going to get love here.
This forum is a shell of what it used to be. Now it's just a circle jerk of TM hate from arm-chair revolutionaries who seem to believe that the TM center backs are somehow responsible for IR's foreign policy.

But anyway, obrigado, irmão.

Certain players deserve hate, but Iran's participation in this WC is essentially sportswashing. Many, possibly even you, have posed concerns about World Cup going to Russia, Qatar, Saudis, etc. because it's used as a tool for these countries to try to rehabilitate their images after years of corruption and violence. Whether some like it or not, TM's adamant push to participate even when not welcomed by the US is not because each player or GN will get some extra bucks in their pocket, they are forced to go by IR.

IR knows that playing in this world cup is a win win. If we would have crushed NZ, they would today be saying, look how powerful we are. After war and persecution by evil US hosts, we won! When they sucked (as usual), they are now hiding behind "boohoo, the great satan didn't roll out the red carpet for us". Reddit and many other foreign outlets are now singing the woe is Iran song and dance of why we didn't win. It was all part of the plan, and I feel sorry for foreigners (and Iranians) who support this team. What made us fall short every world cup before this in spectacularly the same fashion? The team is not good, and I'm embarrassed actually when foreigners come and say "love Iran from Japan, sorry you played like shit again, you tried hard".

We are the mentally challenged kid on the bus, and it's because we're led by literal neanderthals (find me an IR leader who does not look like the missing link between ape and man, I beg you). I appreciate foreigners feeling sorry for us, I guess, but we are a shit team barely supported by a shittier government. Even politics aside, why is anyone still supporting these losers or have any hope for them. In the last 47 years, what have we accomplished? Won a handful of meaningless games in the grand scheme of things. Won 3 group matches in 5 WC's and made a couple of Asian Cup semis? For an Asian "giant" we are pretty laughable imo. I'm begging my friends not to watch Iran in my support this time around. I told them I already know we're going to play like shit with this old and moldy, slow-ass team.

[daggerhashimoto]

who the fck can even play football when their government killed thousandsss of their own and want regime change?? You think if a country like Belgium killed 10.000 of their people it would calmly play a wc and the Belgians would cheer for their country????

The team is our country. The team is not IRGC. Half of these people play in Europe, Russia and UAE. If you want a revolutions in the street, how about a win for the team. That will get people in the streets.

This is not IRGC's team. This is a team full of Iranians. Get some help bro.

[Shahin K]

The team is our country. The team is not IRGC. Half of these people play in Europe, Russia and UAE. If you want a revolutions in the street, how about a win for the team. That will get people in the streets.

This is not IRGC's team. This is a team full of Iranians. Get some help bro.

sure you are so naive. Everything in Iran is controlled by the regime. They use team melli for their propaganda and many of these players attended pro regime rallies where they shouted marg bar amrika.

You R the stupid one

[Afat11]

The team is our country. The team is not IRGC. Half of these people play in Europe, Russia and UAE. If you want a revolutions in the street, how about a win for the team. That will get people in the streets.

This is not IRGC's team. This is a team full of Iranians. Get some help bro.

Is it not reasonable for someone who is a liberal in America to not support a player who is very MAGA and pushing a MAGA agenda and saluting Trump after goals and whatnot? If more than half of US' starting lineup were leaning such way, do you think a lot of Americans would feel disenchanted with the team? (this is happening quite often in reality, many are rejecting the NY Giants' Quarterback for speaking at Trump's event recently, right or wrong. They feel betrayed by him and NY/New Jersey is a very left leaning region).

Conversely, if the team was all very heavily pushing a liberal agenda and kneeling during the national anthem and whatnot, do you also think a large portion of the country would find it hard to just blindly support the team when a great many of them are supportive of an agenda that alienates a large portion of their countrymen? If they were all completely quiet about any opinions, it's one thing and maybe I'd be more middling on them like Jahanbakhsh who I imagine is a smart politician to always play the middle, but we have that rat Torabi pulling his shirt up to support the Supreme Ape and being the king of the IR asstaster club, Shoja, Rezaeian, Taremi, Beiranvand, several others who have spoken in ways that prop up this regime. They are not on the side of the Iranian people at least. I do not believe they have a gun to their heads to say these things, there is some belief in what they are saying, they are confident in it. They are rich and powerful under IR's reign, maybe if another government comes in and invests in our football, better younger players will be able to play abroad without such a grip and there won't be favoritism for the most khayemal players getting a callup like it is now and has been in the past.

I personally feel like they are the democrats to my republican and vice versa. Some can just say, it doesn't matter to me if my quarterback or my point guard loves Trump or hates him, and they just watch the sport mindlessly to the events surrounding it. For some of us, when we know the team's allegiance is setting our political goals back, we reject the team as our representatives. Sardar not being called up is 100% political and some here can make up excuses, but this dumbfuck IR is the reason we didn't have him on the field yesterday and freaking Alikoor was getting important minutes when I don't think the guy has ever touched the ball for TM in any games he's played he's so invisible. They brought politics into the team call-ups, not me and you. We can complain if Trump is handpicking USMNT players based on who kisses his ass the best, and we are seeing that live and in living color with TM. Why is it okay for every other country in the world to do exactly what we are doing and feeling, but to you, we are a joke and need help? Is it just Iran where their pure evil needs to be ignored, but other countries can have opinions because they are free like the US?

[daggerhashimoto]

Brah...

[Afat11]

Brah...

Maybe if you took time to read views that disagree with yours you wouldn't have such weak opinions tbh. Ignorance is bliss, hopefully Torabi scores for you Sunday and you can cry tears of joy for him while 40K families cry for another reason in Iran.

[persiangodfather]

Brah...

Please come back to this post after Belgium embarrasses your islamic republic on sunday

[daggerhashimoto]

It's not my Islamic Republic. It's my Team Melli soccer team who I have been supporting for over 45 years and I'm not gonna stop supporting them because they are not risking the safety of their friends and family.

[persian8iran]

Congratulations to all members of this forum for the outstanding performance Iran delivered against a FIFA Top 10-ranked team!

The goal-line decisions may be controversial, but the reality is that Iran created the better scoring chances, while Alireza Beiranvand produced a truly historic performance between the posts. A special thank you must go to Mehdi Taremi, whose masterclass display cements his place on the podium among the greatest players ever to represent Iran at FIFA World Cups.

That said, this draw will mean nothing if we fail to beat Egypt. A tense week lies ahead, with plenty of hard work still to be done.

Cheers to everyone 💚🤍❤️

[persian-eagle-13]

IRI and GN has to win against Egypt. A draw may not be enough to get you to next round as a 3rd place team. Other 3rd place teams will have a better goal difference and points. TM shows they can park the bus and defend, now they have to go on offense and win.