Janne Palomäki
Iran really belongs in the World Cup, writes Janne Palomäki from Inglewood.
Ramin Rezaeian opened Iran’s goal account in the World Cup. ZumaWire / MVPHOTOS
Home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers, Sofi Stadium is undoubtedly the finest example of modern sports construction.
The shrine erected on the side of the sleeping neighborhood of Inglewood is an attraction in itself.
Hardly anyone came to see its architectural finesse on Monday.
Right from the start it was clear that too the entire New Zealand team was a bystander in a play written for someone else.
In the United States, those who oppose Iran’s current regime are concentrated in the Los Angeles area. The opposition, which goes by the name “Tehrangeles”, organized a small but quite loud demonstration outside the Sofi stadium. The presence of the counter-revolutionaries was also noticed by the huge whistling concert during the Iranian national anthem.
At that point, football was clearly in the child’s position.
However, the entire political ballast could not hide the fact that Iran and New Zealand produced one of the best sporting matches of this tournament.
The white-shirted Iran was clearly more skillfully advanced, but the All Whites dressed in black nevertheless took the lead with a goal by Eli Justi, who was in a frenzied scoring mood.
New Zealand superstar Chris Wood, a strong target player, kept the defenders occupied, which opened up space for Just.
The Sofi stadium welcomed the Iranian national anthem with a powerful whistling concert. PDO
However, Iran was not discouraged. How could it have been, if the US and Israel’s joint bombing campaign didn’t make the team give up either?
After Ramin Rezaeian’s equalizing goal, it seemed that the team would forcefully win.
Even politics was forgotten at the 40th minute at the latest, when the opposition representatives joined the wave that surrounded the stadium.
FIFA made a laughing stock of itself in November when it awarded Donald Trump the Peace Prize.
It’s true that the president may have gone too early, but in the light of current information, the matter should be re-examined.
It is hardly a coincidence that the USA and Iran made peace in their most recent conflict only about a day before Team Melli started their own World Cup work. Partly also the pressure caused by the Fifa tournament forced Trump to back down on his demands.
Of course, it’s easy to pretend to be a man of peace when you end a war you yourself started.
Perhaps with the same logic, the Nobel Peace Prize would belong to Gianni Infantino, who stubbornly kept Iran in the World Cup roster even though many in the US administration wanted to change it to, for example, Infantino’s other home country, Italy.
Football-wise, Iran’s participation is a huge win. Fortunately, we can only thank the team itself for that, which cleared the Asian qualification path as one of the first.
Against that background, the play at the Sofi Stadium almost turned into a tragedy. In the 55th minute, the axis Just-Wood worked for the second time and the 26-year-old winger completed New Zealand’s 2-1 lead goal.
Many Iranians have a conflicted relationship with supporting their own national team. PDO
At that point, it was pointless to console the players with the fact that for them, the most important thing in this tournament was that the team was really in the competition.
And the fact that there is peace at home.
Fortunately, after more than an hour, Saman Ghoddos’ delicious concentration reached the head of Mohammad Moheb, whose butt was straight out of the stories of One Thousand and One Nights.
The 2-2 final result continues the series of draws. Someone could call the end result “agreeable”.
At least hope can tolerate it.