It was the World Cup’s designated Pride game but with a far different kind of demonstration than the one anticipated, pitching Iranian against Iranian in scenes of visceral fury on the Seattle streets. Not exactly a rainbow occasion.
There were multi-coloured T-shirts and men in pink cowboy hats dotted here and there, but the sense of indignation, injustice and demands for change all came from the local Iranian diaspora. They view the national team’s presence here as a disgrace, seeing them as representatives of the despotic Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), whose brutal response to protests in Iran saw an estimated 42,000 people killed on the streets of Tehran, six months ago.
The heartbreaking images of some of the young victims were printed on the front of T-shirts worn by Iranians around the stadium perimeter. The beaming face of Setayesh Shaieiei, cut down at the age of 20. Ali Nourri, who was 17 when he died. The collective grief felt at the loss of these and so many others created the extraordinary spectacle of the most successful Iran side in the nation’s history being accused of ‘washing the blood’ of the victims. The act of wearing a replica Iran shirt carried risks here. Some who did were confronted by protestors and accused of being IRGC spies.
The first of many confrontations took place around lunchtime, when word spread through the protest group that a middle-aged man in an Iran top who had just walked past with a youth was a spy. He was pursued down the street by protestors who took a security guard with them.
After the clash had concluded, the man, who said his name was ‘Ramin’, told Daily Mail Sport that he did not represent the IRGC, but when asked if he regretted that thousands of his compatriots being killed on the streets of Tehran, he asked: ‘What deaths?’ There certainly were deaths. He told the woman she was a ‘terrorist’ before his son dragged him away.
The football story these past few weeks has been about Amir Ghalenoei’s Iran team keeping qualification for the knock-out stages alive against insuperable odds, myriad indignities and a state of open civil war. They trained for the tournament in Turkey, seeking sanctuary from their own bombed-out capital, were effectively dumped into a Mexico training base by the American government, then told they must fly in and out of the USA for each game within the space of one day.
Iran’s football team are winning friends and respect at this World Cup despite the geopolitics
Before kick-off in Seattle, many Iranians chanted against the despotic Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), whose brutal response to protests in Iran saw an estimated 42,000 people killed on the streets of Tehran, six months ago
Friday night came another heavy blow. The chalking off of a winning goal at the death by centimetres, for the second time in succession, after a barnstorming finish against Mohamed Salah’s Egypt.
Many of the Iranian locals here don’t want to see good in this team. Fuel was added to their naked fury for the side when winger Mohammad Mohebi gestured the act of firing a gun after his goal against New Zealand. It was seen by them as provocation, directed at fans who carried the anti-regime Lion and Sun flag into Los Angeles Stadium for that game. Mohebi denies any political motivation but people see shadows on every wall.
Amid all the anger, the Pride designation – a savvy way for the liberal city Seattle to promote its Pride events which run this weekend – passed the night by. Peter Tatchell, the veteran gay rights campaigner, staged a one-man resistance fight inside the stadium, displaying a placard condemning FIFA’s hypocrisy for allowing rainbow flags in the stands while failing to act against World Cup teams where homosexuality is criminalised. Tatchell said there had been an attempt by stadium officials to seize his placard.
The Pride label, which had no official standing with FIFA and was determined by Seattle’s local organising committee, was not as preposterous as it looked. It meant conservative minded Iranians being confronted about the imprisonment of those in same-sex relationships in Iran. ‘I don’t say I am for it, but we are all human beings and people should be free to live their lives,’ Ramin, clearly no liberal, told us.
Iranian women from the Seattle diaspora took the same view. ‘We support that freedom,’ said Karla Mohtashemi. ‘We don’t believe in the removal of freedom for those in such relationships. Arezou Bagan told us: ‘Yes, we stand with those who are persecuted in this way.’
It was difficult to gauge the views of pro-regime Iranians because Donald Trump has refused Iranian fans visas to travel. The Egyptians appeared indifferent to all the fuss. An American city where same-sex relations are normalised took us a long way from the last World Cup in Qatar, where fans had rainbow items removed. The city of Seattle refused to bow to Iranian and Egyptian attempts to get the Pride status removed. That, at least, felt like progress.
In the end, a game of football broke out. The anthem of the nation which calls itself the ‘Islamic Republic of Iran’ met with audible boos and whistles and for a time, this seemed like a football team without support, essentially going it alone.
They’re deprived of their best striker, Sardar Azmoun – excluded from the tournament because of a perceived ‘act of disloyalty’ to the government. The German striker with an Iranian father, Dennis Eckert, who was hastily furnished with a passport to fill the gap created by Azmoun’s absence, hasn’t featured. His selection had always seemed like a long shot.
The match between Iran and Egypt on Friday fell on the World Cup’s designated Pride game
Activist Peter Tatchell, staged a one-man resistance fight inside the stadium, displaying a placard condemning FIFA’s hypocrisy for allowing rainbow flags in the stands while failing to act against World Cup teams where homosexuality is criminalised
The oldest Iranian squad ever fielded, and one of the tournament’s most senior, could not hold a candle to the first half technical proficiency of Salah, skipping through spaces across Egypt’s fine line and setting up the team’s opening goal for Mahmoud Saber.
But when you strip away the geopolitics and the slanging matches, it is hard to see what then ensued from Iran as anything less than heroism. They are undeniably cohering with their Islam dictatorship and toeing the party line, but that does not absolve the most hard-working team in this tournament of all respect. They are footballers, no more.
Defender Shojae Khalilzadeh was so convinced that his driving shot into the net at the death would stand as a winner that he pulled on a pair of meme glasses in the melee. There were three minutes to run. A VAR review ruled against the 37-year-old. Undaunted, Iran regrouped again and there was time for Milad Mohammadi to rise and head a ball flat against the bar. The stadium was certainly bouncing for Iran by then.
The old men were still running when the legs had gone from Egypt, securing the draw which gave them a good chance of a round of 32 game against Switzerland in Vancouver. They can reflect today that their star striker’s supposed ‘disloyalty’ to the regime – posing with a Sheikh when an Abu Dhabi club signed him – carried a heavy cost, because they could have used him. The talismanic forward Mehdi Taremi missed a first-half penalty and though Ramin Rezaeian finished superbly on the acute to equalise, he skied an even better opportunity
Salah operated on another level at times, seeing the pictures of opportunity for his country before anyone else and backheeling the assist for Mahmoud Saber’s opener. Egypt manager Hossam Hassan played down the significance of Salah departing with a muscle injury.
But the limitations of Salah’s running were also evident. When Egypt’s second half substitute Omar Marmoush burgled a ball from Ramin Rezaeian in his own half and advanced up the pitch, Salah did not break out of his jog and was not there to assist.
At the end of it all, Khalilzadeh was flat out on his back on the pitch, devastated, and when the team came to that routine of walking the pitch perimeter, they seemed uncertain where to go; not knowing whether to offer fans applause. And then, because of that Trump government dictat that they may not outstay each matchday in the US, they seemed to face an immediate, near three-hour return flight to their base in Tijuana, Mexico.
Iran now face an anxious wait to see if they will qualify for the World Cup knockout stages
It was hard to argue with Taremi on Friday night when he hit out at the ways the dice have seemed loaded against Iran. ‘We have to beg not to go all the way back to Tijuana,’ he said. ‘We’ve complained about these things since the beginning. It’s a disaster. The World Cup for us – a disaster. FIFA stand charged. We have to fight against everything here. If they want us to be out, okay let’s get out. But that’s not fair.’
Iran manager Ghalenoei finished his press conference at 11.30pm local time. The American strictures suggested a dash for a plane lay ahead.
Ghalenoei ventured to say that if the US and FIFA had allowed his squad to arrive here two weeks earlier, they might have been better prepared. ‘Our opponents had all of these friendlies whereas we played with youths in Tijuana. But thanks to our players the whole world has fallen in love with us and they want us to advance.’
After a day of madness, this certainly felt like wisdom. The US and the vast Iranian diaspora may be at war with this football team, but they are winning friends and respect.
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