Recommendations of the Editorial team
A quick trick question in advance: What are the most interesting games in the World Cup group phase? The opening game with the appearance of Shakira, England against Croatia, Germany against Ecuador? Forget all of them – because by far the most interesting games will be Iran’s. If not sporty, then political. From players getting stuck at the border to missiles hitting Iran at the same time, to game cancellations and arrests, everything seems possible. Who knows, maybe ICE officials will take a few players from the stadium directly to the deportation plane.
After the many entry and exit debacles surrounding the USA, the Iranian sports minister is now speaking out.
Abandonment of the game as a threatening backdrop
Iran will face New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt in the preliminary round of the World Cup. If things get tight for these teams, it is conceivable that Iranian Sports Minister Ahmad Donjamali has a watertight solution ready: simply hoist a few old Persian flags with a lion and sun emblem in the stadium.
And what happens when Belgian, New Zealand or Egyptian fans hold up old Persian flags, including into the TV cameras – so that the Iran team abandons the game and thereby loses? That would be a possible tactic of the opponent or rather their fans. Maybe not entirely realistic. But both FIFA and the local authorities have said that it is not possible to control all stadium visitors in this way.
“We have already informed FIFA that those responsible for the team would cancel the game as soon as we heard political slogans in the stadiums,” said the Iranian sports minister. Iran’s old flag is favored by monarchist opposition groups and is seen as a symbol of rejection of Iran’s Islamic system. Abandoning the game would automatically lead to the opponent winning.
Los Angeles as a political hotspot
The situation becomes even more delicate given the fact that two of Iran’s games are taking place in Los Angeles – the city where the majority of the nearly two million-strong Persian diaspora lives – also known as Tehrangeles. A perfect time to show protest against the Iranian leadership. The Iranian team could then at least comply with the USA’s “request” and leave on the same match day. The only question that remains is whether the next rocket strike will take place in the stadium gate or on Iranian soil.