A carefree look at the FIFA ranking would tell us that we are facing one of those filler matches, interesting because they are all interesting beforehand in a World Cup, but without great hyperbole. The US team occupies the 16th position in that classification and Iran’s, 20th, both therefore they are far from the places that grant hierarchy. It happens that the little weight that each other have in the international football concert does not correspond precisely to their influential position on the world political map. Brazil and Argentina may not be playing today, the countries that are drawing the most passions and fans to Qatar, but who wants to miss a match between Iran and the US?
Antagonistic political subjects for more than half a century, relations between the two nations have gone through numerous storms and today we are facing one of the worst. The playing field is in terrible conditions for diplomacy. These weeks, the Iranian government is highlighting its most extreme Islamism and continues to be entrenched and hardened by the internal protests of popular movements that call for more democracy and empowerment for women. At the same time, it sends weapons (war drones that its specialists handle like no one else) and advisers to Ukraine to support the Russian army. President Joe Biden, for his part, has unsuccessfully tried to soften the sanctions policy promoted by Donald Trump because Iranian progress in terms of nuclear weapons has not only not stopped but has increased. Hostilities between the governments of Tehran and Washington have intensified.
And in this that a football match arrives.
Yesterday, members of both teams tried to isolate themselves from external noise to focus on football (the pass to the round of 16 is at stake), insisting on the benefits of sport to unite people from whatever country they are, a naive speech but infallible. In the 1998 World Cup, the same teams already faced each other in a pre-war context between the two powers, and the footballers had an exemplary attitude. The Iranians presented white roses to their opponents, both formations mixed for a pre-match photo, and after the game was over, Jeff Agoos, an American player, said: “We did more in 90 minutes than politicians in 20 years.” . Iran, by the way, came out winner 2-1. It was his first victory in World Cup history.
24 years later and listening to the players on both sides, but not to the politicians, it seems that they want to connect with that spirit.
Let’s start with Iran. Their players will not forget this World Cup. From a European point of view they will leave as heroes for their courageous gesture on their debut against England. They did not sing their anthem to warn the world about the dictatorial drift of their government assuming the consequences, an action that, in contrast to the cowardice of the captains of European teams by not wearing the rainbow bracelet for fear of a yellow card, was revealing.
There may be a lot of documentaries about this World Cup that tell us about the supposed heroics of its great figures, but knowing the inside of the Persians, that would be the real documentary. Reveal internal friction in the dressing room; follow up on Sardar Azmoun, the player who has spoken the most in favor of the protests of his countrymen following the murder of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, arrested for not wearing her veil correctly; find out why for some opponents of your country not to sing the anthem was not even enough…
All the press conferences in Qatar with Iranian participation have been an ambush for their footballers, sandwiched between questions from Western journalists about their political position and those of the locals, aligned with the regime, counterattacking. Yesterday the US coach Gregg Berhalter had to experience it. “Do you think it is fair that I as an Iranian cannot enter your country and you can enter mine?” asked a Persian journalist. “I am only a soccer coach, not an expert in international politics,” he replied.
Carlos Queiroz, a Portuguese born in Mozambique who trained in the US for a year of his career, wanted to make a pacifist proclamation from the other bench. And he did well because the audience, made up of reporters from all over, applauded him. “Let’s compete like brothers. Let’s try to make football proud of all of us. I was born in Africa and I have seen the magical effect that a balloon has on a child who has not eaten for two days. Let’s not lie to football anymore. Let’s throw him a good party.”
