“Are you recording me?” Jamal asked after hesitantly agreeing to speak. Two hours later, Saba, draped in Stars and Stripes but with the Iran flag painted on both cheeks, said: “How do you know they are not watching now? The regime has spies everywhere in Doha.” After picking up a flag being given from one of the three counters at Al Thumama Stadium, Nada said: “Woman. Life. Freedom.” She was in an Iran team shirt but with the emblem on the crest blackened and was wearing a tattoo on her left arm depicting the slogan that has galvanised the country of her birth.
Jamal is a lawyer from Tehran, a two-hour flight from Doha, and is here with Mustafa, a school friend who is a civil engineer. Saba is a child psychologist from California as is Nada, who did not give her profession. At the Al Thumama Stadium for the World Cup group league game between Iran and USA, they insisted on giving only first names.
This was the first meeting between the teams since 1998 when Iran won 2-1. Like in 1998, this game was politically charged given the relations between the countries. But it was given another twist by the protest against human rights abuse in Iran which began in September after the in-custody death of 22-year-old Masha Amini.
A win despite the loss
On Tuesday, USA won 1-0, Christian Pulisic’s 38th minute goal taking them to the Round of 16 and sending Iran home.
“The team did a fantastic job and deserves credit from Iranian fans for what they achieved under extremely difficult conditions,” said head coach Carlos Queiroz, speaking in the mixed zone where no Iran player stopped for a flash interview. The interaction was interrupted by Queiroz getting angry and abusive at a volunteer “for laughing and making jokes about my comments to his friend.” Visibly stunned, the volunteer denied the charge and left the area but not before Queiroz insisted his name be taken for an official complaint.
Over nine hours had passed between Queiroz’s outburst and the conversation with Jamal. Most of it under heavier-than-usual security. When the stadium gates opened at 7pm three hours before kick-off, people, especially women in Iran colours, were made to show what they were carrying. Anything deemed to be making a political point was confiscated. Not even Palestinian flags, a common sight at games, were allowed. At an entry gate, a man was asked to leave his tee shirt because it had a photograph bearing resemblance to officials of Iran’s current regime. He went in pulling on his jacket over a back vest.
When three Iranian women did not give in that easily, it led to an argument with the person manning the security X-ray scanner. Belgian journalist Samindra Kunti was caught taking a picture of that leading to him being detained alone in a room for 15 minutes and released only after he agreed to delete the pictures.
“They held up everything I had in my bag including inner garments,” said Saba. “They didn’t notice that the flag I was carrying had no emblem and only Iran written on it. Nor my tattoo,” said Nada.
Not far from Nada, Todd Bechtel and Ray Stafin were briskly walking by in white thobes which had a splash of colours of the American flag in front and centre. They had bought them for 400 riyals each from Souk Waqif, the restored market which has become a melting pot for cultures and languages since the World Cup began on November 20, said Stafin.
“Of course, if we had a slogan supporting the movement in Iran, we wouldn’t have been let in,” said Bechtel, who is from Dallas. Twice, Stafin, who is from Atlanta, mispronounced Iran but, like USA captain Tyler Adams at Tuesday’s pre-match press conference, corrected himself immediately.
Conflicting emotions
Unlike Bechtel and Stafin, Saba and Nada, both born in Iran, spoke of conflicting emotions before the game. “I feel no allegiance to Iran as everyone in my family has moved to USA. But a part of me also wants Iran to win,” said the doctor. Speaking separately, Nada said: “I had to be here to register my protest. If Iran go out, it would mean the regime can’t appropriate the team’s success and that would make me happy. But sad too.”
After stating that he is against “mullahs and ayatollahs but a revolution is not the solution because we had one 43 years ago and things have changed for the worse,” Mustafa too said he would want Iran to win. “The national team belongs to the people,” said the lawyer.
By the time this game came around, the country was united behind the team,” said Ali Rezaei, a journalist with Iran’s Borna News Agency. “It wasn’t when they played England.” Before that game, Iran players had not sung the national anthem showing solidarity with protesters back home. They did sing against Wales and on Tuesday. Through the game and especially in the second half when Iran, in search of the equaliser, got a few chances, the crowd vigorously got behind the Asian giants who needed a draw to qualify.
“We enjoyed the adversity,” said USA defender Tim Ream. “When you don’t enjoy and panic, bad things happen.”
Support for the team
A regular Iran flag with the tulip motif in the centre wrapped around him – the US football federation removing that from a flag in a social media post, since deleted, has been criticised by Iran – Jabar too said that the country was behind the team. “Yes, people may believe different things and not everything I read is possibly true but our team has the support of the people,” said Jabar, an Iranian expatriate living in Doha for the past one year and in Malaysia before that.
“It is difficult to make out who is right and who is not but this should end quickly. Both sides should be ready to concede. Moral policing is wrong. In Qatar, the hijab is not mandatory but you are required to dress in a way that doesn’t offend people. And I think it has worked very well. Maybe our leaders could consider that,” he said.
After the win, USA players were seen consoling and embracing their rivals many of whom were crying. From countries that do not usually engage publicly – talks about reviving the 2015 nuclear pact too is happening through mediators — USA left-back Antonee Robinson hugged and patted Ramin Rezaeian as the Iranian defender wept on his shoulder.
“I think it is more than just football,” USA forward Tim Weah told Fox Sports.
