Doha, Qatar – Political tensions have been excessive between the USA 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 attractive sport rises above politics.
American-Iranian Shervin Sharifi, 31, is a die-hard soccer fan who collects soccer shirts as a interest. His assortment up to now spans 107 shirts, from numerous golf equipment to nationwide groups. Roughly 40 to 45 of these are from the Iranian nationwide workforce alone.
“You possibly can say that I’m form of addicted. That is my life. That is what I dwell for,” Sharifi informed Al Jazeera, his voice already coarse from three days of cheering on the video games.
He and his pals travelled from Dallas, Texas, to assist “Crew Melli”, the Iranian nationwide workforce, together with on the USA vs Iran match on Tuesday, the place the stakes couldn’t be greater.
After Iran’s 2-0 win over Wales and the 0-0 tie between the USA and England, the People have to win tonight’s match to advance to the knock-out phases of the event, whereas the Iranians could solely want a draw. Solely one in every 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 sport as a result of they’re not simply taking part in for themselves to be a hit; they’ve 80 million individuals to make joyful at dwelling. That’s a variety of weight in your shoulders,” he informed 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] just 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 area, they’re not simply taking part in for a sport. 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 throughout the 1998 World Cup match in Lyon, France. He remembers watching Iran beat the US workforce 2-1 when he was seven along with his father, who immigrated from Iran along with his mom.
That match has been described as essentially the most politically charged match within the historical past of the World Cup as a result of hostile geopolitical relations between the 2 nations.
Sharifi mentioned his father “cared extra [about] the political aspect of the soccer match, and that’s what made me excited. However 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 greater. Iran Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei even threatened to drag the workforce out of the sport as he didn’t need the gamers shaking fingers with the US workforce as protocol dictates.
However the gamers took a special strategy. Each groups posed for an improvised picture collectively on the sector — an iconic second — and the Iranian gamers gave bouquets of white flowers to their opponents as a logo of peace.
“Wanting again at 1998, that was a unifying second bringing the Iran and US collectively,” Sharifi mentioned.
So much has modified since that World Cup sport, and forward of Tuesday’s match, the main focus of tensions in Iran has unfold past issues with the US.
For weeks, protests have been ongoing in Iran over the dying 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 individuals killed this month in a surge of protests.
In Iran’s first sport in opposition to England, the workforce didn’t sing the nationwide anthem, which was interpreted as a gesture of assist for the protests.
Throughout their second match in opposition to Wales, the workforce did sing the anthem however in a reserved method, as Al Jazeera’s Maziar Motamedi reported.
“Crew Melli is a manner for us to convey a highlight to this difficulty … the second that the Iranian nationwide workforce 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 workforce.
Ram believes that soccer is usually a unifying drive and isn’t centered on the political tensions between the 2 nations.
“For US followers of soccer, travelling internationally offers a chance to achieve many extra views,” he mentioned. “It brings individuals collectively in a manner that’s really significant, and the [US] workforce has by no means been nice, so there’s much less to lose. There’s much less nationwide delight on the road.”
“I truly assume it’s a greater alternative to forge stronger bonds.”
Ram sees these video games as a chance to know what people who find themselves not from the US are going via day by day.
“Soccer reminds us that nations are usually not their governments, and they’re in reality their individuals,” he mentioned. “I believe we see this always throughout this event, 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 nations.
“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 optimistic can come from these political attachments to the sport.
“US followers are going to be sympathetic to the Iranian individuals as a result of, on the finish of the day, the Iranian persons are not the Iranian authorities.”