“We won against Iran with a clean goal and the game is over,” in a nutshell, US President Joe Biden celebrated his country’s superiority over the Iranian team at the World Cup in Qatar, a clear indication that this match of football was political par excellence.
The confrontation comes 24 years after the last meeting between the two teams at the 1998 World Cup in France, which at the time was defined as the “Mother of games” by then NFL president Alan Rothenberg, because it also came to light of a great tension in relations between the two countries.
The presence of Iran and America in the same group was a difficult issue to separate from politics and to consider only mathematically, despite the Fifa slogan which says that there is no place for politics in football.
He gave many descriptions of the clash that decided ‘Uncle Sam’s country’ to qualify for the second round, including ‘spherical impotence’, and was said to be a political event above the green rectangle.
President Biden announces #TeamUSA @USMNT victory over Iran: “The game is over! This is a great game man!”#World Cup #FIFA World Cup pic.twitter.com/4sT9PjTLPv
—CSPAN (@cspan) November 29, 2022
After the match and in the mixed area of the “Al-Thumama” stadium, which hosted the clash, the players pass one by one, and it was remarkable that the Iranian players, some of whom were very impressed and bowed their heads , all refused permission and left the stadium directly to the locker room.
Only Burntford striker Saman Qudous of Iran stopped by for a few minutes and spoke to an Iranian media, saying the players were “psychologically devastated and very sad about the outcome of the game”.
And he added: “In the second half we played well and controlled, and we missed many chances that if one of them had scored, we would have qualified for the second round of the World Cup.”
In response to a question asked by Al-Jazeera Net did the political atmosphere overshadow the match and affect the players’ performance? Quddous said: ‘They had nothing to do with politics, and they were playing football, and I think the game is over and we lost and dropped out of the tournament, and that’s a shame because we couldn’t make the team happy. our people”.
Despite our tireless attempts to question the Iranian players, they refused to answer any questions, even the Iranian media.
Unlike the Iranian national team, players from the US national team competed to make statements and speak to reporters, including Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner, who responded to a question about the political atmosphere surrounding the game and about how it affected the players, and said that “when the whistle blew at the beginning of the match, the match turned into a competition”. of their different opinions, political leanings and more.
He continued: “It was a top level competitive match, we respected each other and were happy with the confrontation, and there was no argument, debate or fight between us, we were just playing ball.”
And he concluded: “After the referee counted down the 9 minutes of extra time, the level of caution rose in all the players, and we resisted until the last moment so as not to repeat what happened against Wales, when the Iranians they scored two goals in 3 minutes. When the referee announced the end of the match, it was an unforgettable moment.”
In the same context, Los Angeles player Kylin Acosta points out that “there was no political pressure or political driver pushing the players before and after the game.”
He stressed that “they entered the game and their goal is to win, collect the three points and qualify for the second round. It was a difficult game, and the Iranian national team is a great team, and they attacked us fiercely and tried with all his strength, but we held on and managed to come out with the three points.”
For his part, Westin McKinney, the Juventus player, refused to answer the question, emphasizing that he did not want to talk about politics and that he was a footballer.
He continued: “We have achieved our first objective by qualifying for the second round. We will face the Netherlands in the final price and it will be a strong game. Now we have to rest, recover and prepare in the appropriate way to meet one of the strongest team in Europe and the world, hoping to get a positive result and continue our journey in the World Cup”.
Summary of the match between Iran and America | The US national team reaches the final price after overtaking the Iranian national team
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Although we asked Adams Taylor, captain of the American national team and Leeds United player several times, the question about the impact of the political climate on the match, he did not answer the question, on the contrary he underlined that they “will not think about the match today of Holland, but rather they will enjoy the historic and long-awaited moment”.
He concluded: “The Dutch national team are among the favorites to win the title and have wonderful and skilful players who are able to finish the game at any moment and score goals.”
The US national team snatched the qualifying card at the final price of the World Cup held in Qatar, after setting the exciting summit against Iran 1-0 in their favor, to accompany England, who won 3-0 on Wales, in the last round of Group Two.
Group 2 runners-up America take on Group A leaders the Netherlands, while Group 2 leaders England take on Group A runners-up Senegal.
