For months, the Iran national team has faced obstacles and hardships, but on Sunday night in Los Angeles the Iranians notched one of the most important results in their team’s World Cup history, holding the favorite in their group, Belgium, to a 0-0 draw. And before they left their locker room, they had a message for their people, Los Angeles and the rest of the world, scrawled on a Post-it notepad.
“From the ancient Persia of thousands of years ago to the civilized Iran of today, the spirit of Iran remains alive and steadfast,” said words handwritten in blue ink on one side of plain white paper. “We came to Los Angeles with pride, competed with honor, and leave with dignity.”
A day earlier, the team’s coach, Amir Ghalenoei, again lamented what he said had been unfair treatment meted out to his team, which has faced an exile of sorts with a base in Mexico, and which is allowed into the United States only for about 48 hours to play its games. The conditions, he said, meant his team was not able to complete its preparations for the game on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.
Iran has played its first two games of the World Cup in Los Angeles, home to what is considered the nation’s biggest diaspora population. The city is a hotbed for both support for the team and opposition to the government in Tehran. Against Belgium, as was the case in the first game against New Zealand, the two aspects were in full effect.
Protests took place outside the stadium and jeers rang out as Iran’s national anthem played, but once the ball got rolling it felt like a home game for Iran. Every Belgian shot repelled by goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand was cheered as if the World Cup trophy itself were at stake, and after the game the team was celebrated on all four sides of the stadium as it did a lap to acknowledge that support.
“Thank you, Los Angeles, for your hospitality,” the note continued. “And thank you to every Iranian who gave their heart, voice and soul for Iran throughout these 180 minutes.”
The team from Iran, the first World Cup participant to be engaged in conflict with a World Cup host in the tournament’s 96-year history, has complained about the conditions it has faced since the United States and Israel jointly attacked Iran at the end of February. There was uncertainty about whether the Iranian players would be issued visas until close to the start of the event, and several senior officials and team staff members had applications rejected.
The announcement of a peace deal may herald a change. Iran’s coach said the team had been told that it would likely be allowed to enter the United States earlier for its final group stage game in Seattle on Friday. But the team’s note also memorialized the impact of the war at home. In red ink, the number 168 and the name Minab were written between the spaces in the text. The number represented the children killed when their school, in the town of Minab, was hit by a missile at the start of the war.
“May peace, respect and friendship prevail among all nations,” the note concluded.
Unbeaten so far, Iran could make it through to the knockout stages of the World Cup with a positive result against Egypt. And there remains a possibility of a meeting with the United States if the teams continue to progress.
Such an encounter would come against the backdrop of continued frustration despite the progress toward peace.
The Homeland Security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, said on Sunday that the president of Iran’s soccer federation, one of the officials barred from entering the United States, tried to get on the plane carrying the players to the Belgium game. Iranian officials disputed his statement. The official, Mehdi Taj, is a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a group designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization. The Department of Homeland Security did not provide any further details.
Mr. Taj and about a dozen other officials have stayed behind in Tijuana, Mexico, where the team is based when it has played its World Cup games.
“It is regrettable that a senior U.S. official has resorted to spreading false statements and misinformation in order to justify restrictions imposed on members of the Iranian national team delegation,” Iran’s soccer federation said in a statement. “When a ‘specific, verifiable and individually targeted’ allegation is made and that allegation is fundamentally false, it naturally calls into question the credibility of the other accusations as well.”
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