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Doha, Qatar – Political tensions have been excessive between america and Iran for greater than half a century, however to some soccer followers gearing as much as watch the 2 nations face off on the World Cup, the gorgeous recreation rises above politics.
American-Iranian Shervin Sharifi, 31, is a die-hard soccer fan who collects soccer shirts as a interest. His assortment to this point spans 107 shirts, from numerous golf equipment to nationwide groups. Roughly 40 to 45 of these are from the Iranian nationwide staff alone.
“You possibly can say that I’m type of addicted. That is my life. That is what I stay for,” Sharifi advised Al Jazeera, his voice already coarse from three days of cheering on the video games.
He and his mates travelled from Dallas, Texas, to help “Group Melli”, the Iranian nationwide staff, together with on the USA vs Iran match on Tuesday, the place the stakes couldn’t be increased.
After Iran’s 2-0 win over Wales and the 0-0 tie between the USA and England, the Individuals must win tonight’s match to advance to the knock-out phases of the match, whereas the Iranians could solely want a draw. Solely certainly one of them can undergo from Group B. This would be the second time the 2 groups face off in a World Cup.
“I can let you know this for positive — the Iranian gamers have extra ardour for this recreation as a result of they’re not simply taking part in for themselves to be successful; they’ve 80 million folks to make blissful at residence. That’s loads of weight in your shoulders,” he advised Al Jazeera whereas standing in Doha’s Souq Waqif market.
Sharifi mentioned that he recognised that the sport represents extra than simply soccer for a lot of and that there have been protests throughout video games and elsewhere.
“I’m not saying [the USA team] isn’t as passionate, however [it’s been] 43 years of this sort of a stranglehold on a rustic,” he mentioned, referring to the Islamic Republic coming into energy following the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
“When [the Iranian team] steps on that discipline, they’re not simply taking part in for a recreation. They’re taking part in for change.”
For Sharifi, the match between the US and Iran holds a particular significance since he first fell in love with soccer when the 2 groups confronted off in the course of the 1998 World Cup match in Lyon, France. He remembers watching Iran beat the US staff 2-1 when he was seven along with his father, who immigrated from Iran along with his mom.
That match has been described as probably the most politically charged match within the historical past of the World Cup as a result of hostile geopolitical relations between the 2 international locations.
Sharifi mentioned his father “cared extra [about] the political facet of the soccer match, and that’s what made me excited. Nevertheless it didn’t matter to me. I used to be very younger. All I noticed was 11 males on the sector, and it blew my thoughts.”
Forward of the match in 1998, tensions couldn’t have been increased. Iran Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei even threatened to drag the staff out of the sport as he didn’t need the gamers shaking palms with the US staff as protocol dictates.
However the gamers took a unique method. Each groups posed for an improvised photograph collectively on the sector — an iconic second — and the Iranian gamers gave bouquets of white flowers to their opponents as a logo of peace.
“Trying again at 1998, that was a unifying second bringing the Iran and US collectively,” Sharifi mentioned.
Rather a lot has modified since that World Cup recreation, and forward of Tuesday’s match, the main target of tensions in Iran has unfold past issues with the US.
For weeks, protests have been ongoing in Iran over the demise in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested in September for “unsuitable apparel”.
Youngsters have been amongst greater than a dozen folks killed this month in a surge of protests.
In Iran’s first recreation in opposition to England, the staff didn’t sing the nationwide anthem, which was interpreted as a gesture of help for the protests.
Throughout their second match in opposition to Wales, the staff did sing the anthem however in a reserved method, as Al Jazeera’s Maziar Motamedi reported.
“Group Melli is a manner for us to carry a highlight to this subject … the second that the Iranian nationwide staff didn’t sing the nationwide anthem, all people was reporting it,” Sharifi mentioned.
Vignesh Ram, 37, an American-Canadian who travelled from the San Francisco Bay Space, is in Qatar along with his father to cheer for the US staff.
Ram believes that soccer could be a unifying power and isn’t centered on the political tensions between the 2 international locations.
“For US followers of soccer, travelling internationally provides a possibility to realize many extra views,” he mentioned. “It brings folks collectively in a manner that’s really significant, and the [US] staff has by no means been nice, so there’s much less to lose. There’s much less nationwide delight on the road.”
“I really suppose it’s a greater alternative to forge stronger bonds.”
Ram sees these video games as a possibility to know what people who find themselves not from the US are going by means of each day.
“Soccer reminds us that international locations are usually not their governments, and they’re in truth their folks,” he mentioned. “I believe we see this always throughout this match, particularly with many controversies surrounding it. You see the methods gamers have engaged in numerous types of protests.”
Sharifi from Dallas agrees that soccer can encourage empathy however admits that it’s troublesome to not join nationwide groups to the politics of their international locations.
“Individuals are not simply coming for soccer now; that’s a factor of the previous. It has a political contingent with it,” he mentioned, including that he believes one thing constructive can come from these political attachments to the sport.
“US followers are going to be sympathetic to the Iranian folks as a result of, on the finish of the day, the Iranian persons are not the Iranian authorities.”
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