Nov. 22, 2022

‘Traitors’ denounced after Iran’s World Cup loss to England

Iran/Society

The story: Divisions among Iranians leading up to the FIFA World Cup have come to the fore following Iran's 6-2 loss to England. Supporters of the anti-government protests in Iran have for weeks charged that the national team does not represent the country but rather the ruling establishment. As a result, some Iranians have been celebrating the loss. State media have reacted by denouncing “traitors at home and abroad.” It has also sought to highlight the English team's strength after days of talking up Iran's potential for causing an upset.

The coverage: Iran suffered a historic 6-2 loss against England at its opening game at the World Cup in Qatar on Nov. 21.

  • Prior to the game against the Three Lions, Iran's worst game at the World Cup was a 4-1 loss to Peru in 1978 during its first appearance in the competition.

  • Mehdi Taremi, who plays for Portuguese club Porto, scored a brace for Iran, becoming the first Iranian player to score more than one goal in the tournament. He also became Iran's highest goal scorer in the history of the World Cup.

National team players have been under public scrutiny for weeks in the lead-up to the competition for not expressing their support for anti-establishment protests in Iran.

  • In an apparent act of solidarity with the protesters, the players did not sing the national anthem at the stadium ahead of the game against England. Iran's state television did not broadcast footage of the latter. The players also wore black wristbands before the game.

  • Clips on social media showed some Iranian fans booing the national anthem. Moreover, some Twitter users sought to highlight the plight of protesters in Javanrud, in the Kurdish-majority province of Kermanshah.

  • At a press conference after the game, Carlos Queiroz—the Portuguese coach of the Iranian team—addressed some of the Iranian fans at the stadium, saying, “They should stay at home. Why [do] they come here to be against the team. We don’t need them here.”

State media in Iran, which had struck a patriotic and political tone ahead of the game, sought to explain away Iran's defeat. It also denounced the pressure on the national team by opposition supporters.

  • Kayhan, a hardline daily whose chief editor is appointed by Iran’s supreme leader, derided the sniping against the national team. Referring to the score of the game, the paper’s Nov. 22 edition featured the headline: “Iran 2 – England, Israel, Al Saud and traitors at home and abroad 6”

  • Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said Iran had lost to "one of the favorites" to win the international tournament. On its Telegram channel, the outlet posted a graphic showing "some of the biggest defeats suffered by Asian teams at the World Cup."

  • The official IRNA news agency, which prior to the game had described Iran's players as "soldiers fighting to uplift their country," blamed the loss on coach Queiroz.

  • Moslem Moein, the head of the IRGC's Basij Cyberspace Organization, wrote that “England’s forwards had not scored” against Iran, but had rather suffered “own goals” from prominent former Iranian footballers Ali Daei, Ali Karimi, Karim Baqeri, and Yahya Golmohammadi.

  • All four retired players have supported the protests and some reportedly refused invitations to attend the World Cup as guests.

The context/analysis: Iran is grouped with England, Wales, and the United States in arguably the most politically charged group in the competition. When Iran beat the US the last time they played at the FIFA World Cup in 1998, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a statement congratulating the national team for defeating the "arrogant" Americans.

  • Iran has had a tense relationship with the UK since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and has had no diplomatic ties with the US since 1980.

  • The Islamic Republic accuses the US and its allies of instigating the protests in Iran. It also charges that the UK permits London-based Persian-language television networks to fan the flames of unrest.

The Iranian establishment has been grappling with protests since the Sept. 16 death in the custody of the morality police of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman.

  • Foreign-based Iranian human rights news agency HRANA on Nov. 20 reported that 410 protesters had been killed and more than 17,000 arrested since demonstrations erupted in September.


The future:
The Iranian national team will take on Wales on Nov. 25 before facing off against the US on Nov. 29.

  • US national team coach Gregg Berhalter tried to downplay the political significance of the game earlier this year, stating on Apr. 3 that both sets of players will be friends and not rivals on the pitch.

  • Even if Iran loses to Wales, the final match against the US will likely be more than a formality.
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فارسیPersian
فارسیPersian
عربيArabic
عربيArabic