The start of the long-suffering Iranian national team at the North American World Championship turned out to be difficult and scandalous. The New Zealanders, seeded lowest among the tournament participants, took away two points from the giants of the Asian region. The organizers drove the Iranians from Los Angeles back to their training base in Mexico immediately after the match. Footballer Mehdi Torabi faced the threat of losing the right to compete at the championship due to the fact that, as it turned out, he was issued a single-entry American visa. And even the friendly visit of the President of the International Football Federation (FIFA) Gianni Infantino to the Iranian locker room did not stop the team coach Amir Galenoi from calling it “the most oppressed” at the championship.
On the evening of June 15, near the stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, there were so many cameras with the emblems of the world’s leading television channels that one would think that contenders for World Cup gold were meeting, and not two teams, for each of which success would simply be to reach the playoffs. But, of course, those who sent these people with cameras here were right: there was something to film. For example, groups of fans with flags that look similar. Well, yes, Iranian colors are green, white, red. Only some of them still depict either a lion or a sun – old, pre-revolutionary Iranian symbols, from the era before 1980. That is, essentially oppositional. And the people who had these flags were happy to confirm their opposition: yes, they are against the Islamic Republic, against the current regime. For some, neither this circumstance nor the fact that they actually live in the USA stopped them from rooting for the Iranian team. Someone admitted that they came to the stadium purely to protest…
And most importantly, these banners with a lion and the sun were somehow carried into the stands, although FIFA seemed to strictly prohibit them: politics should not interfere with the game. But where can we get away from her, politics?
It would be nice to color these pictures with reminders. The fact that the Iranian authorities, when their country was subjected to attacks, including from the country that is actually the main host of the world championship, seriously threatened to boycott. That they refused the boycott, but did not receive any steps towards it from the host side. On the contrary, the Iranian fans living in Iran were deprived of the quota for tickets assigned to them according to the regulations, and a week and a half before the championship it turned out that entry visas to the United States, where the national team had all three matches in the group (with the Belgians on June 21 – in the same arena in Inglewood, with the Egyptians on the 26th – in Seattle), did not receive entry visas to the United States, where the team had all three matches in the group (with the Belgians on June 21 – in the same arena in Inglewood, with the Egyptians on the 26th – in Seattle), a dozen members of its headquarters did not receive visas: functionaries, analysts, trainers. In addition, the training base was urgently asked to be moved from Tucson in Arizona across the border to Tijuana, Mexico. And I don’t care that this greatly complicates logistics.
The Iranians endured everything. And in the opening match we also had to endure the incredible impudence of the New Zealanders, who are in their mid-nineties FIFA rating: No one is lower in the championship. The difference, if measured by positions in the classification, between them and the Iranians who close the top twenty is actually about the same as what was between the national teams of Spain and Cape Verde. Iranians, like the Spaniards, too couldn’t overcome rated much lower than its opponent. But while the European champions at least hardly risked missing out and losing, the Asian giants twice found themselves in the role of winning back. Both times we managed to bounce back, achieving a draw, which cast a cloud over the tournament situation. The fact is that the Belgians and the Egyptians ended amicably – 1:1, which means that after the first round all four competitors had a point.
After the match, new reasons appeared to talk about the misadventures of the Iranians.
FIFA happily reported on the visit made to the Iranian dressing room by its president Gianni Infantino, on his fiery speech: “You showed families, friends, compatriots, the whole world that you are at the championship. You will make everyone proud of yourself…” There was zero use from her, because immediately the coach of the Iranian national team, Amir Galenoi, said that, apparently, he would lose one of his players – Mehdi Torabi, who for some reason was given a single-entry American visa, and that the organizers literally kicked his team out of Los Angeles back to Mexico, demanding that they fly out immediately after the end of the meeting. And the Iranians planned, as is usually the case, to spend the night in California to recover. Galenoi spoke of his team as “the most oppressed” at the championship. And next to her, forward Mehdi Taremi, commenting on the attitude towards her, uttered the word “catastrophe”. Horseradish is not sweeter than radish.
