Category: Iran

Much was made of the geopolitics surrounding USA’s World Cup match with Iran on Tuesday, but the animosity between the two countries’ governments was not reflected on the pitch.

After the Americans sealed a tense 1-0 victory to progress to the knockout stages in Qatar, the USA full-back Antonee Robinson took time to comfort Iranian players as they took in their exit from the tournament. The Fulham player embraced fellow defender Ramin Rezaeian, who was in tears, and spent time with Abolfazl Jalali, who had slumped to the turf at the final whistle. Images and footage of Robinson and the Iran players quickly went viral on social media, where he won praise for his empathy.

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Iran’s players had been under huge pressure due to issues off the pitch. In their first match of the tournament, against England, they failed to sing the national anthem in an apparent show of support for anti-regime protests in Iran, which began after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in September. Conservative figures in the country have warned the players they may face consequences for their actions when they return home, and the players sang the anthem – albeit half-heartedly – before their games against Wales and the US.

Some fans in Iran celebrated the team’s World Cup exit as they believed the government would use any success as a propaganda tool.

At the end of the match, the Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad posted videos of celebrations on Twitter, writing: “Iran is a country where people are very passionate about football. Now they are out in the streets in the city of Sanandaj and celebrate the loss of their football team against US.”

There were also pockets of protest among fans in the stadium on Tuesday night. Some smuggled in T-shirts bearing the words “women life freedom”. There were also signs condemning US sanctions against Iran and some fans brought in flags of Palestine.

The propaganda war playing out in the background of Iran’s World Cup campaign continued on Tuesday night, but fears of ugly scenes at the Al Thumama stadium failed to materialise.

The players sang the national anthem, some through gritted teeth, to a backdrop of whistles from the stands. Supporters smuggled in personal protests, the words “women life freedom” printed on T-shirts hidden under T-shirts and scrawled in marker pen on their bodies.

But despite an increase in security, with dozens of police standing behind the goal where Iran supporters were gathered, there was no apparent widespread intervention. One report suggested two female fans had a flag of Persia taken off them by security. Meanwhile, an American was grabbed by security for wearing a rainbow armband, the item Fifa had once assured visitors would not cause any problems with Qatari officials. After the game a male Iran fan was taken away by security while shouting “Women, life, freedom”.

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The scale of protest was intimate but widespread and there was much complexity, too. An emigré contingent among the Iranian support was substantial. It included one woman, who gave her name as Ayesha, who said she had had an Iran shirt taken from her by security during the match against Wales. This time, the second generation Iranian-American was wearing a USA shirt with “women life freedom” on it instead.

Nil, an Iranian living in Doha, had the same message on her shirt, just above a knot that was tied around her stomach and bared her midriff. She, like many female Iranian fans at the stadium, was not wearing a hijab, but pointed out that even those who did might be supportive of the protests. “Some will not wear it, but it’s not about just that. Women cannot buy, they cannot work, it is more.”

There were also young women without hijabs who were vocally denouncing the protesters, saying they should go home. Part of what appeared to be an organised group, they attempted to put themselves in front of the cameras that were outside the ground. One man in their number, Ali, said he lived in Canada, and that politics should keep out of football.

Asked what he would say to a woman protesting for her freedom, he said: “Be more patient. We do not need a revolution; when we have a revolution things go downhill. There is more instability, there is a power vacuum. We have to take it step by step.”

There were also rumours of “plants”, fake actors paid to muddy the waters with insincere messaging. And while much of the protest was focused on the Iranian regime, there were other messages too. Two women stood with a laminated placard protesting against US sanctions against the country, apparently protected for a while by members of security. And alongside the flag of the Islamic Republic and the star spangled banner a third flag was highly visible, too: that of Palestine.

As supporters gathered and slowly began their journey inside the ground, a young woman in a burka sped back and forth between them on roller skates, a giant Palestinian flag trailing behind her.

This was a game too far for Iran. Their World Cup campaign was short but will not be wrenched from the memory easily, the harrowing domestic context colouring their every step. When the dust has settled they should take huge pride in having remained competitive despite such a varied and extraordinary set of external pressures; the team’s reaction at full time, many of them falling to the floor, told of the toll recent weeks have taken.

It is the USA who will join England in qualifying from Group B, though, and they will face the Netherlands on Saturday. They needed the win and deserved it, Christian Pulisic scoring seven minutes before half-time but sustaining an injury in the process. It was a cool, controlled performance and a fixture whose pre-match storylines seemed endless passed without any flashpoints.

That might have been considered a surprise after the stormy exchanges that dominated the buildup, including but nowhere near limited to an attempt by Iran’s football association to get the USA banned for using an altered version of their flag on social media. Comments by Carlos Queiroz, the Iran manager, about social problems in the USA had also added spice and that is before anyone factors in the longer-term history between the two.

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After the talking it must have been a relief for both sets of players to get started. There was no joint photograph of the teams before kick-off, as there had been when these countries faced off in Lyon at the 1998 World Cup in France, but anything seeking outward signs of enmity as they shook hands would have been looking for something that was simply not visible. As they had before defeating Wales, the Iran side opted to sing their national anthem. Some displayed more enthusiasm than others and there was, once again, the sound of whistles from the stands as swathes of Iran’s support made no secret of the anguish caused by their nation’s regime.

They subsequently channeled their energy into support for Queiroz and his players. The din was quite something and so was the silence, sharp and sudden, when Pulisic gave their opponents the edge. It had been coming: while proceedings had swung from end to end early on there had been a decided shift in balance over the previous 15 minutes, the USA calling the tune and doing everything bar create a clear chance.

The goal was beautifully worked, its execution straight from the training ground. Everything had to be perfect and it was: from Weston McKennie’s 45-yard diagonal ball towards Sergiño Dest, to the right-back’s run and deliberate header across the six-yard box, to Pulisic’s sharply-timed dart and adept finish from close in. Pulisic took a clattering from the Iran goalkeeper, Alireza Beiranvand, upon converting but he had been richly rewarded for his bravery.

It meant Pulisic had no cause to regret missing another first half-chance, a header straight at Beiranvand. Later in the half Timothy Weah similarly failed to generate enough power and, shortly before the goal, blasted off target after unselfish hold-up play from Josh Sargent. Balls had been flashed across the box by Dest and Antonee Robinson; nobody could apply a killer touch and the USA’s concern, until Pulisic bared his teeth, was a familiar lack of bite.

Weah nearly found Sargent for a chance that could have doubled the lead and, just before the interval, was flagged offside by a knee after finishing the Norwich forward’s pass. Iran had lost the grip that they enjoyed early on, when they attacked with the confidence of a side that knew the value of scoring first here. Their initiative only translated into one might-have-been when, in the 20th minute, Mehdi Taremi fluffed a golden opportunity to offer Sardar Azmoun a sitter.

They would have to offer more in the second half and Azmoun did not appear after the interval. Iran were already missing the suspended Alireza Jahanbakhsh and their options for a comeback did not look promising. Pulisic did not return out either, depleting the USA’s resources, but Sargent immediately shot at Beiranvand in a continuation of their earlier gusto.

Finally Iran came close when Saman Ghoddos, who had replaced Azmoun, headed over from with Dest doing just enough to prevent an equaliser. It was their first goal attempt and the bank of fans behind it roared their approval.

The USA looked fitter and quicker. As against England, the midfield of McKennie, Tyler Adams and Yunus Musah covered every blade of grass and worked possession cleanly. But Iran had to take risks and another chance came Ghoddos’ way in the 65th minute when, favourably placed but with the ball just behind him, he slashed two yards wide.

As the minutes ticked down, the USA were content to hold onto what they had. Direct threats were few, although Iran screamed in vain for handball when the substitute Shaq Moore let a dangerous right-wing cross roll up his body. A late twist never looked especially likely but Ramin Rezaeian nearly provided it when heading an added-time free-kick inches wide. Taremi almost converted at the death for Iran, who again howled for a penalty, but it was not enough.

Steve Sampson feels hoodwinked. The USA boss played down any rivalry with Iran before the teams met at the World Cup but, looking back on his team’s 2-1 defeat more than two decades on, he believes he was too diplomatic.

With the two teams going head-to-head at the finals again this week to decide which of them makes it out of their group, memories are naturally going back to a contest whose impact reached much further than sport. And Sampson knows where USA lost it.

“If I was to do it all over again, I’d make it more political,” says Sampson. “I would use history as motivation for my players – that they [Iran] held American citizens captive for the longest period of time and are one of the greatest enemies ever faced by the United States. I wanted to make it all about the football and depoliticise the whole event because, for me, our football was on display. Whereas for the Iranians, it was their politics on display.”

It’s a pretty explosive statement to make considering the atmosphere around the match, which the president of the US Soccer federation, Alan Rothenberg, called “the mother of all games”. Sampson believes that, while his attempt to anaesthetise any possible security issues may have been wise, it also left his side ill-prepared for a contest that was about much more than three points.

The relationship between the countries had long been fractious, but disagreements intensified when the pro-American Shah was overthrown during the Iranian revolution of 1979. By 1998, there had been no formal diplomatic relations between the countries in nearly two decades and the US had placed Iran under a trade embargo.

“I was coming at it as an American kid who grew up in the suburbs and looked at Russia as the evil empire and the big enemy, but playing Iran in the World Cup was like that,” recalls Alexi Lalas, the former USA defender. “What they represented at that time to a twentysomething who had been growing up in the 70s in the United States … was about to play out on the football field.”

Despite the strength of feeling and pre-match rhetoric, the game passed by without any diplomatic issues. Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, had intervened at the last minute and forbidden his country’s players from moving towards the USA team and shaking their hands before kick-off, so arrangements were made for the Iran players to hand over roses instead – and the two sides also posed for a joint team photo to portray a unified message.

There were rumours that a terrorist group was planning a protest in the stands during the match, so 150 armed police were positioned around the Stade de Gerland in Lyon to stamp out trouble. TV broadcasters were also under strict instruction to ignore any signs of unrest or controversial banners around the ground.

Sampson went along with the plan to play things down while preparing his team, but that was not the case in the opposite dressing room. Iran’s players were all too aware of the importance of the match and they started ferociously, taking the lead towards the end of the first half. “I later found out that at half-time, a top politician from the Iranian government came down to the locker room and collected all the passports of the Iranians and said: ‘You lose this, you’ll never return home,’” says Sampson, who was later informed of what had happened by the Iran head coach Jalal Talebi.

“I achieved what I wanted to do – which was to make it a football event – not a political event, but the Iranians did exactly what they wanted to do. They made it a political event – so much so that, after they beat us, every single one of the players was awarded a new home in Iran, paid for by the Iranian government. That would never have happened in the United States.”

Iran doubled their lead through Mehdi Mahdavikia in the second half and, despite Brian McBride’s header halving the deficit late on, Iran held strong to win 2-1. Cue wild celebrations – even though neither side qualified from the group.

Memories of the match have inevitably resurfaced before what is effectively a knockout game in Qatar. Like Sampson, Lalas believes the winning team will be the one that handles the pressure of the contest better. “Iran used the relationship, history and propaganda to motivate themselves and we didn’t match it with our performance,” he says. “From a practical perspective, this was three points. When the draw came out, we said: ‘We’re getting three points against Iran, boom, put that in the bag. If we don’t do that, there will be big problems.’ Obviously, we didn’t.”

Any hopes that Gregg Berhalter’s United States team could stick to sports on the eve of their win-or-go-home game against Iran at the World Cup were dramatically swept aside on Monday when the thorny geopolitical underpinnings of the match exploded to the fore during a tense half-hour news conference.

But even as Berhalter parried a series of provocative questions from Iranian media invoking US immigration policy, inflation rates and school shootings, and the 23-year-old squad captain Tyler Adams was called upon to answer for America’s centuries-old legacy of inequality and racial discrimination, both men remained laser-focused on the task at hand.

The United States need a victory on Tuesday night at the Al Thumama Stadium to reach the knockout stage and extend their first World Cup appearance after an eight-year absence. That it happens to be a rematch of one of the most politically charged matches in World Cup history is beside the point.

“I know that a lot of other constituents have another feeling towards it, but for us it’s a soccer game against a good team and it’s not much more than that,” Berhalter said. “It’s a knockout game. Both teams want to go to the next round, both teams are desperate to go to the next round, and that’s how we’re looking at this match. We’re very focused on what we could do as a team, as are they, and we think it’s gonna be a good soccer game.”

Berhalter also was pressed on the biggest non-political controversy around his team: the recent claim by former US international Eric Wynalda that Gio Reyna’s limited action in Qatar is due to a “rift” with the manager.

Reyna, the 20-year-old Borussia Dortmund winger and one of the US team’s most promising young talents, played seven minutes against England as a late substitute after being left out of the team entirely against Wales. Berhalter has told reporters that Reyna’s abbreviated minutes are due to “tightness”, while Reyna has claimed he is fully fit and ready to go.

Those crossed signals came under a harsh glare on Friday when Wynalda, who played for the national team from 1990 through 2000 and retired as the program’s all-time leading goalscorer, said Berhalter is not telling the truth and the situation is causing “internal strife” within the team. He also stated that he had spoken with Gio’s father Claudio, the former US captain and Berhalter’s childhood friend and ex-teammate.

On Monday, Berhalter denied Wynalda’s claim of a conspiracy, saying: “That’s just not who I am.”

“Speaking of the four-year journey, there’s been also four years of interacting with you guys [the US media], and what I’d say is: I’ll leave it to you to decide if I asked Gio to lie about it,” Berhalter said. “That’s just not who I am. That’s not what I represent. So if you have to take Eric’s word or my word or whatever, feel free, but I know what happened and that’s not what I represent. Like every other person, Gio is a member of this team that we care deeply for and we know can help the team. It’s a matter of when he can help us and how he can help us.”

The biggest question surrounding the US team’s prospects on Tuesday remains their ability to finish chances. Their glaring lack of goalscoring from the No 9 position was a persistent issue throughout qualifying and there’s been little progress thus far in Qatar, where they have broken through just once in 180 minutes.

“We talked about this last time, especially after the [England] game when I said how difficult goals are in the World Cup,” Berhalter said. “It’s hard to come by goals, and that’s what we’ve found. For us, it’s about how we put our players in a position to create chances.

“We’ve been defending really well and that keeps you in games. We know in this game, we’re going to need to score a goal. That’s going to have to happen, so we stay calm. We have a plan and we’ll go out and try to execute that plan.”

So far Berhalter’s choices at central striker have been Norwich City’s Josh Sargent against Wales and the surprise roster inclusion Haji Wright, whose high-energy press of England’s back line on Friday flummoxed their effort to build out of the back.

“I think [the US strikers have] been OK,” Berhalter said, while refusing to tip his hand for Tuesday’s choice. “When we’re evaluating the performance in the first game, Josh had a good chance at the near post and, looking at the second game, Haji was very effective on the defensive end of the game, had some good runs into the channel, very lively. Perhaps there were a couple of times when we could have been more effective with the movement in the penalty box.”

Adding to the Americans’ anxiety is the fact that Iran need only a win or a draw to advance – and reach the knockout stage for the first time in six World Cup appearances – giving them an incentive to pack players behind the ball and dare the US to break them down. But Adams, for his part, doesn’t believe that’s a concern.

“After watching Iran’s last game, I would not expect them to do that because they went after the game and they were looking for three points,” Adams said. “You could tell from the mentality of the group. They were attacking, counter-attacking, doing everything they needed to do, fighting in every single duel, [making] tackles. Every single moment of the game looked like it could be their moment to score a goal.”

Asked whether he felt a win against Iran was necessary to validate the US team’s progress from their catastrophic failure to qualify for the World Cup four years ago, Adams, who is the youngest captain in Qatar, was to the point.

“We have to get out of our group by all means,” he said. “It’s good going into a game knowing there’s only one way to do it, so you’ve got to go after it. It would feel like a success for us when we make it out of the group and then continue on in the tournament.”

“I’m not well versed on international politics. I’m a football coach,” said Gregg Berhalter, but he was a man who had just been exposed to politics in the raw. Twenty-four hours before his side’s definitive Group B fixture against Iran, the USA head coach had been hit by a fusillade of hostile questioning from Iranian media. Everything from censorship to American racism and the presence of the US fleet in the Gulf was thrown at him. It was an experience he will never have had before and few coaches will encounter.

It was not entirely unpredictable, however. The complicated and bloody history that exists between Iran and the USA has led to simple sporting encounters between the two nations becoming diplomatic flashpoints. It was the case when the countries first faced each other at the World Cup during France 98 and, in a different way, it has happened again now.

The immediate occasion for tension is the current uprising in Iran. After the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old arrested for failing to properly wear the hijab, protests have spread across the country. More than 450 people have since been killed, according to the advocacy group Human Rights Activists, and more than 18,000 arrested. The protests have followed the men’s side to Qatar, where the team refused to sing the national anthem before their match against England. Supporters have also brought banners and T-shirts bearing Amini’s name into stadiums, often having them confiscated by security in a country that is an ally of the Iranian state.

The US government has publicly sided with those revolting against the authorities. The secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Amini “should be alive today” and called on the Iranian government to “end its systemic persecution of women and to allow peaceful protest”. The USA team had stayed out of it, however, until on Saturday night the US Soccer Federation altered the banners on its social media accounts to show the standings in Group B, only with an Iranian flag without the symbol of the Islamic Republic.

The men’s team and their staff insist they had no knowledge of this stunt and, on Monday, Berhalter apologised for it. But to judge by the stream of agitated questioning from Iranian journalists, it had provided an opportunity to deflect criticism away from the Iranian authorities and on to a more traditional enemy.

The history of American (and British) involvement in Iran in the 20th century is shameful and entwined with the pursuit of oil. In conjunction with the British, the US provoked a coup that deposed the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, in 1953. They subsequently reimposed royal rule under the Shah, Mohammad Reza, and propped up his corrupt regime, retaining control of the oil fields at the same time as switching political allegiance to regional rival Saudi Arabia. After the Islamic Revolution of 1978-79, the religious leadership became an enemy for successive US presidents and the US provided funding to Saddam Hussein throughout the eight years of the Iran-Iraq war. More recently, attempts at resetting relations between the US and Iran were reversed by Donald Trump. There is a reason they are known as the Great Satan.

This is what Berhalter walked into in Doha and while it is possible that he ought to have been better briefed as to the context of this fixture, it is also true he has experience of football rising above the tensions between these two countries. That match in Lyon in 1998 was billed “the mother of all games”. An unprecedented security presence was put in place to limit the risk of pitch invaders or violent protest. Iranian players were told not to approach their American opponents to shake their hands, as Fifa protocol dictated. Tension ran high.

And yet a compromise was found. The Iranians instead handed the Americans flowers, the atmosphere in the ground remained voluble but calm. Iran won 2-1 but mutual respect was earned and a rematch arranged for the following year on American soil, itself a diplomatic achievement. “We did more in 90 minutes than the politicians did in 20 years,” said the USA midfielder Jeff Agoos.

Berhalter was watching on that day in Lyon, his “first and only game” as a TV pundit, he revealed at his press conference. He responded to the Iranian barrage of questions with humility and honesty, his captain Tyler Adams likewise. But Berhalter’s takeaway from the 1998 fixture was not about geopolitics but sport. He saw in the Iran team a quality he wishes for his own players at Al Thumama stadium on Tuesday.

“That game sticks in my mind, it burns in my mind,” he said. “There was one team that really wanted to win the game that day and one that didn’t. For us to have a chance to advance in this World Cup, we are going to have to play like they did.”

Carlos Queiroz has raised the temperature before Iran’s crucial Group B fixture with the USA, addressing criticism of the Iranian regime by drawing parallels with American school shootings.

The Iran coach made his latest controversial intervention during this World Cup in relation to a row over a tweet by the US Soccer Federation which appeared to have deliberately doctored the Iranian flag. It came little more than 24 hours after Queiroz called for Jürgen Klinsmann to resign from a Fifa committee over remarks about the “culture” of Iran’s team.

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Guardian reporting goes far beyond what happens on the pitch. Support our investigative journalism today.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, the 69-year-old year old took great pains to praise the US team and their performances in Qatar. He also highlighted his own role in the development of the game in the States in the 90s. Asked about the USA’s social media post, which removed the symbol of the Islamic Republic from the flag and led Iran to call for the US to be banned from the World Cup, Queiroz took quiet aim at social problems in the US.

“We have said many times that we have solidarity of all humanitarian causes,” Queiroz said. “But we have solidarity with causes all over the world whoever they are. If you talk human rights, racism, kids dying at schools from shooting, we have solidarity with all. But we bring a smile for 90 minutes, that is our mission.”

Protests in Iran since Mahsa Amini died in hospital while in police custody have seen at least 450 people killed, and more than 18,000 arrested, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, an advocacy group following the demonstrations.

The USA coach, Gregg Berhalter, apologised for the tweet of the flag. “I can only reiterate that the players and staff knew nothing about what was being posted sometimes things are out of our control,” he said. “We’re not focused on those outside things, all we can do is apologise on the part of the players and the staff.”

Queiroz was asked about his lengthy tirade against Klinsmann, after the German had said the “culture” of the team was to look to pressurise the referee into giving fouls, but the manager said he had “no comment” to make. However went on to defend his team and what he called their “values and principles”.

“I always work and always believe in my life that a football team must be based on the work ethics and principles of what a team is. [I want] to create a code of conduct that can make players believe every single morning they wake up that they need to be better, to beat what they were the day before. The only thing I care to talk about is the team as a unit, cohesion and being as a family.”