Thierry Henry on the VAR decision that denied Iran a last-minute winner against Egypt:
🗣️ “I genuinely feel sick for the Iranian players. They believed they had written one of the greatest moments in their country's football history, only for it to be ripped away in seconds. That's a pain no footballer should experience.”
“You cannot ask players to give everything for ninety minutes and then allow a decision like this to define their World Cup. If VAR is overturning goals of this magnitude, it has to be absolutely flawless. There is no room for doubt.”
“Look at the faces of the players, look at the supporters in the stands. Those weren't just tears over a goal—they were tears over a dream that disappeared in an instant. That's what makes this so heartbreaking.”
“This isn't just about Iran anymore. Every nation at this World Cup should be worried because if a moment like this can happen on football's biggest stage, it can happen to anyone. That's a frightening thought.”
“The officials will move on to the next game, but the Iranian players and their supporters will carry this moment for the rest of their lives. Some scars in football never truly heal.”
“If that decision was wrong, then football has failed Iran. A World Cup should be remembered for unforgettable goals and heroic performances not for a controversy that leaves millions wondering what might have been.”
The captain of Iran’s National Team, Mehdi Taremi, calls out FIFA and the U.S.:
“This is a disaster World Cup. We can’t stay in the country and have to travel every time we play without any recovery. Now we can’t stay in Seattle and have to return to Tijuana. This is not fair.”
It might have been 28 years since our last appearance at a World Cup but the pain of what we witnessed last night felt oh so familiar.
Yet again we’ve choked in a tournament, and yet again we’ve absolutely nobody to blame but ourselves.
True the group draw was very tough, Morocco and Brazil are two excellent sides, but the truth is neither even got out of third gear against us and they didn’t need to as we were quite happily shooting ourselves in the foot.
Shocking individual errors early in both games gave us mountains that we never really looked capable of climbing.
When you mix an impotent attack with a porous defence then you’ve got yourself a perfect recipe for disappointment.
It’s absolutely not all on the manager. It’s not his fault that we’ve a real lack of quality in several vital areas of the pitch.
He is however culpable for playing a four last night when three at the back would have made so much more sense given the game script.
On a night when football terrorism should actually have been the game plan he abandoned it and we were found badly wanting trying to play it out from the back with players that simply weren’t good enough to do it.
That very much is on Clarke and the harsh truth is that despite the success in reaching the three major tournaments under him, we’ve been a massive let down in every single one.
Another four years of this seems a mistake to be perfectly honest, and that’s not purely a reflection of Clarke as head coach, it’s just all a bit Groundhog Day and something needs to change.
We won’t scrape through.
We will be eliminated at the group stages again, most likely by a single goal if history is anything to go by.
Do we really deserve anything else?
Nothing ever changes and frankly the incredible fans who did the nation proud the last couple of weeks deserve better.
🇧🇷👏 Respect where it’s due as the Brazilian players took the time to clap out the Tartan Army 🏴 after the match in Miami. Pure class. Scottish fans brought the energy all game, even in defeat, and the Seleção showed love right back.
This is what the Beautiful Game is all about. ❤️
Wish yous held the same enthusiasm for protesting about the safety of women when it was your pals doing the sexually assaulting instead of calling the lassies lying slags
S. Africa, Brazil and Qatar were all painted a certain way and had their own issues but at no point were they actively stopping players, teams, referee and fans from participating in the biggest sporting event, 3 days before it starts. America gotta be the worst hosts ever
Statement from Omar Artan is far more graceful and reserved than FIFA deserves. It is a stain on this tournament that one of Africa's top officials can be blocked from the biggest month of his career.