Twenty-four years after their last meeting at the FIFA World Cup, Iran and the United States, which have had no diplomatic relations for forty years, will be on the field for a decisive match on Tuesday evening. And just like in 1998, this meeting has strong geopolitical significance. It was preceded by a skirmish between the two federations, with Iran protesting its American counterpart for removing the Allah symbol from its flag.
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Some give him a nickname on social networks the “nuclear” – a humorous portmanteau of nuclear, referring to the tense relations between Tehran and Washington over this issue, and of classico, a meeting between two football teams that has become classic. This neologism itself is a summary of the issues at stake during the upcoming meeting between Iran and the United States, Tuesday, November 29 (at 8 p.m. Paris time).
Twenty-four years after their last meeting at a world championship, the Iranians (2e with 3 points) and the Americans (3e with 2 points) will play a decisive match for their future in the competition organized in Qatar. At stake ? A place in the eighth finals. If striker Sardar Azmoun and his teammates qualify, it would be historic as Iran would progress to the final stages of the international competition for the first time.
The match promises to be contested on the field… and on the diplomatic front, the United States and Iran have not had diplomatic relations since April 1980]: the Iranian Football Federation protested on Sunday against the American federation removing the emblem from the Iranian flag image of the word Allah from social media posts.
The US selection “should be excluded from the 2022 World Cup”
The flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran consists of three horizontal bands – green, white and red – with a calligraphic character in the center representing the word Allah. But this last representation disappeared on Saturday from several posts of the American Federation, sparking controversy.
“The Iranian Football Federation has sent an email to FIFA demanding that it send a serious warning to the American federation, Irna’s official office said. In an unprofessional act, the American Football Federation has removed the emblem from the Iranian flag that represents Allah.
A communications manager for the American Federation said it was a “one-off” gesture to show our solidarity with women in Iran. “The flag has never been changed on the federation’s official website,” he added.
Later in the day, a spokesperson for the American Federation said the controversial social media posts had been removed – an image was also published restoring the flag of Iran. But “we continue to support women’s rights in Iran,” he assured.
The incident comes as Iran has been the scene of a protest movement for several months that was sparked on September 16 by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who died after her arrest by moral police in Tehran.
The pro-Iranian Tasmin news agency was even more vehement on Sunday. According to her, the action of the American Federation “contradicts the FIFA Charter, for which a ten-match suspension is the appropriate sanction”, and she believes that the United States selection “should be excluded from the 2022 World Cup “.
FIFA has not yet officially responded to this controversy.
1998, a precedent that was placed under the sign of reconciliation
Tuesday’s match promises to be at least a little more exciting than the first meeting between the two countries during the World Cup in France in 1998. Diplomatic relations between the two countries had already been broken – since the American embassy hostage-taking in Tehran that followed on the Iranian revolution of 1979.
But this match, played on June 21 at the Gerland Stadium in Lyon, offered an opportunity for reconciliation between the two countries. Shortly before the match declared then US President Bill Clinton : “As we cheer for today’s match between American and Iranian athletes, I hope it will be another step toward ending the estrangement between our nations.”
After the national anthem, American football players shook hands with their opponents and presented them with pennants. As a reward, each of them received a bouquet of white roses. The players from both teams then – outside of official protocol – take a photo together that will become a landmark.
📷After the handshake between the two captains, undoubtedly the longest of the World Cup, there is only too good an opportunity for American players and Iranian players to pose together for the photo of the match. pic.twitter.com/uJMTVaZKgb
— FC Geopolitics (@FCGeopolitics) January 8, 2020
The Iranians eventually won (1-2) on the green rectangle. ‘We have done more in ninety minutes than politicians did in twenty years’ declared former U.S. defenseman Jeff Agoos after the game. When asked about the twenty years of this competition in 2018, Iranian coach Jalal Talebi in turn stated this : “We [Iraniens et Américains] we are not enemies. We can play together, respect each other, shake hands, wish each other good luck and move on to the next game. We weren’t there to fight, we were there to play sports.” May these words find a new echo during Tuesday’s match.
