🔻Following the heavy and unprecedented defeat of the Iran national football team in a friendly match against Uzbekistan, more than 7,000 critical comments were posted under the result of the game on the Instagram page of the Football Federation and the Iran national team, in protest at the performance of the coaching staff and the Football Federation.

🔹A group of users, with the hashtag “Fire Ghalehnoei,” believe that the national team’s coaching staff should be changed. Some also called for the dismissal of Mehdi Taj, the head of the Football Federation.

🔹In the first match after the 2026 World Cup, the national team, with a highly criticized performance, lost to Uzbekistan 3–1.

🔹The defeat, against the national team’s most repeated opponent over the past five years, was recorded while Uzbekistan had lost its previous five matches before and during the World Cup.

🔹After this match, the national team coach said that defeats in friendly matches are natural and blamed the weak performance and loss on the players: “We conceded the first and second goals due to individual mistakes. These matches are for this purpose, so that individual mistakes are made and such mistakes are not repeated in official matches.”

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