(CNN) — When the players of United States and Iran take the field For a key World Cup game this Tuesday, both players will be running on a bed of hot geopolitical embers.
The match, which the US must win to advance in the group stage of the tournament, will take place amid an extraordinary controversy that is highlighted even by this year’s World Cup itself, which was already running the danger of being remembered more by the political party than as a spectacular sporting event.
The United States Soccer Federation Iran’s flag changed this weekend on her social media page to highlight the struggles of the women protesters inside the Islamic Republic. But it’s possible that she’s inadvertently created a major distraction for her own team ahead of her biggest game in years.
The move prompted Iranian state-aligned media agency Tasnim to tweet that “Team #USA should be kicked out of #WorldCup2022.” Then on Monday, US coach Gregg Berhalter and Captain Tyler Adams were questioned by Iranian journalists about US travel bans, naval exercises in the Persian Gulf and their pronunciation of the country’s name in English they said like “You’re hurtAdams, who is a black soccer player, was also asked how it feels to represent a country where there is so much racial discrimination.
Berhalter said he and his players did not know about the FA publication ahead of time, but also tried to defuse the dispute. “We had no idea what the Football Federation was putting. The staff, the players, we had no idea,” Berhalter said. “All we can do is apologize on behalf of the players and staff. But it’s not something we were a part of.”
US soccer team midfielder Tyler Adams answers questions from reporters at a press conference ahead of the Qatar 2022 group stage match against Iran. (Credit: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
Adams gently apologized for mispronouncing “Iran” and insisted that the United States had seen remarkable progress in race relations. But both his captain and his coach seemed to prefer answering questions about his four defenses than the four-decade proxy war between the United States and a nation that calls him “The Great Satan.”
The federation’s gesture may also have provided an opportunity for the Iranian media and authorities to divert attention from the protests inside their country, which Iranian footballers apparently tried to highlight at great personal risk, with some refusing to sing the national anthem. in his first match in the tournament; Furthermore, Iranian defender Ehsan Hajsafi told the press that the team supports Iran’s protest movement.
CNN’s Sam Kiley reported that the relatives of the Iran national soccer players They were threatened with going to jail and worse if they don’t “behave” before the US game. A source also told him the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sent dozens of agents to monitor the team, adding unimaginable pressure to what he already faces. in a World Cup.
The emotions surrounding this USA vs. Iran matchup are just the latest example of the political winds engulfing soccer’s premier event, first sparked by FIFA’s choice of Qatar as host, which sparked a fierce debate on human rights, LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights and workers’ rights.
It’s nothing new for global tensions to manifest in a sporting event; the best example of this kind in the United States is the much mythologized “Miracle on Ice” victory of the US ice hockey team over the mighty Soviet Union in the depths of the cold of the Cold War the Olympic Games in 1980.
But deliberately adding to the politicization of an already highly sensitive game between the US and Iran could turn into a political own goal.