Iranian footballers, led by Sardar Azmoun, support anti-government protests.
Iranian footballers, led by Sardar Azmoun, support anti-government protests. Sardar Azmoun, also known as the Iranian Messi, surprised everyone last week by scoring a goal.
One of the most famous Iranian athletes, a forward for Bayer Leverkusen, has spoken out against the country’s establishment and expressed his support for the protests that have swept the country on social media, adding that he doesn’t care if he gets fired.
Although Azmoun softened the tone of his previous post, he maintained his original position. Azmoun, already famous in his homeland, has become even more well-known in recent years.
Iranian football analysts, however, have pointed out that this has jeopardized his spot on the national squad. Because few other locations on Earth can politics and football mix as seamlessly as they do here.
And Azmoun is not alone
Protests have broken out across Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested for not wearing the Hijab and who died while in police detention in Tehran on September 13. The team, already preoccupied with the last-minute replacement of its coaching staff, is now under even greater scrutiny as the countdown to the World Cup approaches.
Supporting Iranian ladies, the Iranian soccer squad covered their national team emblems with black jackets during the national anthem before their final pre-World Cup match against Senegal last week.
Ali Karimi, a former player for Bayern Munich who was once dubbed the “Asian Maradona,” and Ali Daei, a former striker for Iran, were two more football giants who expressed their support on social media. In support of Amini and Iranian ladies, Iranian player Zobeir Niknafs also cut off his hair.
The twin-edged sword of sports nationalism
The 2018 World Cup in Qatar is the first to be staged in the Gulf region, and the country’s performance there has generated a lot of excitement.
At the top of the lineup, you can expect to see Azmoun (assuming he holds his spot in the side despite his words) and Mehdi Taremi of FC Porto, who was one of the most deadly goal scorers in Europe last season.
They’ve brought back Carlos Queiroz, who coached the squad in both the 2014 and 2018 World Cups (in Brazil and Russia, respectively), but with some backlash. Following his time as Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant at Manchester United for five years, Queiroz spent a season with Real Madrid.
Even though Iran has never advanced to the World Cup’s knockout rounds, they may finally have a chance to do so if they can knock off their long-time geopolitical adversaries, the United States.
Similarly to how their 2-1 triumph over the United States in the 1998 World Cup boosted their international and domestic political standing, beating them — or England, who are also in their group — on the way to a historic run would do the same.
But Amini’s death and the protests in the country have altered the context in which the World Cup is taking place and highlight the drawbacks of excessive political participation in football.
Players like Azmoun, who may be very dangerous for Iran’s opponents, would undoubtedly be left off the team if they were penalised for their words.
If Iran does well in Qatar, the players and fans who have traveled there may seize the opportunity to make their voices heard and attract global attention. The fans’ chants against Senegal in a small town near Vienna, Austria, reverberated across the globe.
Even before the World Cup, the buildup was fraught with controversy, and most of the moves made by Iran’s political elite were made so that they could claim credit for the performance of the national squad. Still, the complaints from the national team were not lost on them.
Queiroz’s return as coach
It’s not that Queiroz isn’t a highly qualified coach; rather, the controversy surrounds how Croatia’s Dragan Skocic was treated before his dismissal.
Skocic did an excellent job with Iran, winning 16 of his 18 games as coach and leading the team to a third straight World Cup. But rumors of discord in the locker room, especially involving star striker Taremi, cast a pall over him.
In the end, Skocic’s fate was sealed by the re-election of Mehdi Taj, a security official with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp and the former president of Iranian football. Taj arrived with Iran’s goal in mind before the World Cup. Despite rumors that he might hire an Iranian to challenge the United States, he ended up bringing in Queiroz in 2011.
However, Iran’s World Cup success will define Queiroz’s legacy in 2018. With a win over Morocco and a draw with Portugal, Team Melli were on the verge of qualifying for the first time, but Spain’s late equalizer against the latter sent them to the round of 16.
Dark horse status
Queiroz now has even more resources at his disposal with which to implement his playing style. He prefers a tight defense that draws the opponent deeper so his team may score on the counterattack. Methodical and tense.
While Hossein Kanani and Shoja Khalilzadeh provide seasoned leadership in central defense, and the team’s midfield choices are limited, the presence of Azmoun and Taremi’s star power more than makes up for this.
After only a short time under the helm, Queiroz has already had an impact, leading the team to a draw against a quality Uruguayan squad last month.
The United States and England have struggled to put together a cohesive squad, and Wales’s recent performances have shown that they are a shadow of the team that advanced to the semifinals of Euro 2016.
Iran has the potential to achieve its greatest successes to date. Another factor is whether players like Azmoun keep their jobs despite their support for the anti-government rallies.
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