"We won against Iran with a clean goal and the match is over," with a few words, US President Joe Biden celebrated his country's superiority over the Iranian team in the World Cup in Qatar, in an undoubted indication that this football match was par excellence political.
The confrontation comes 24 years after the last meeting between the two teams in the 1998 World Cup in France, which at the time was called the “Mother of Matches” by then NFL President Alan Rothenberg, because it also came in light of great tension in relations between the two countries.
The presence of Iran and America in the same group was a difficult matter to separate from politics and to consider it only mathematically, despite the FIFA slogan that says that in football there is no place for politics.
He lavished many descriptions on the confrontation that decided the qualification to the second round in favor of the "Uncle Sam's country", including "spherical impotence", and it was said that it was a political event over the green rectangle.
President Biden announces #TeamUSA @USMNT victory over Iran: "The game's over! That's a big game man!"#WorldCup #FIFAWorldCup 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 confrontation, the players pass one by one, and it was remarkable that the Iranian players, some of whom were very affected and bowed their heads, all refused permission and left the stadium directly to the changing room.
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Only Iranian Saman Qudous, Burntford striker, stopped for a few minutes and spoke to an Iranian media outlet, and said that the players were "psychologically devastated and very sad about the outcome of the match." the apostates.”
And he added, "In the second half, we performed well and controlled it, 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 whether the political atmosphere clouded the match and affected the players' performance?
Quddous said, "They had nothing to do with politics, and they were playing football, and I think the match ended and we lost and got out of the tournament, and this is unfortunate because we could not make our people happy."
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Despite our tireless attempts to ask questions to the Iranian players, they refused to answer any questions, even to the Iranian media.
In contrast to the Iranian national team, the players of the United States national team were racing to declare and talk to journalists, among them Matt Turner, the Arsenal goalkeeper, who answered a question about the political atmosphere that surrounded the match and how it affected the players, and said that "when the whistle blew at the start of the match, the match turned into a competition." Football, and what I love most about sports is that it is able to bring people together and bring them closer, regardless of their different opinions, political orientations, and others.
He continued, "It was a competitive match at the highest level, and we respected each other, and we were happy with the confrontation, and there was no discussion, debate, or collision between us, we were just playing ball."
And he concluded, “After the referee counted 9 minutes of extra time, the level of caution rose among all the players, and we resisted until the last moments so that what happened against Wales would not be repeated, when the Iranians scored two goals in 3 minutes. And 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 were no political pressures or political drivers that pushed the players before and after the match."
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He pointed out that "they entered the match and their goal is to win, collect the three points and qualify for the second round. It was a difficult match, and the Iranian national team is a great team, and it attacked us fiercely and sought with all its might, but we held on and were able to come out with the three points."
For his part, Westin McKinney, the Juventus player, refused to answer the question, stressing that he did not want to talk about politics and that he was a football player.
He continued, "We achieved our first goal by qualifying for the second round. We will face the Netherlands in the final price, and it will be a strong match. We now have to rest, recover, and prepare in the appropriate way to meet a team among the strongest in Europe and the world, hoping that we will achieve a positive result and continue our path in the World Cup."
Summary of the match between Iran and America |
America's national team reaches the final price after overcoming Iran's national team
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Although we asked the question about the impact of the political atmosphere on the match several times to Adams Taylor, captain of the American national team and Leeds United player, he did not answer the question, and instead stressed that they "will not think today about the Netherlands match, but rather they will enjoy the historical and awaited moment for years."
He concluded, "The Netherlands national team is among the favorites to win the title, and it has wonderful and skillful players who are able to end the match at any moment and score goals."
The US national team snatched the qualifying card to the final price of the World Cup held in Qatar, after it settled the exciting summit against Iran in its favor 1-0, to accompany the England team, which won 3-0 over Wales, in the last round of Group Two.
America, the second-placed team in Group Two, will face the Netherlands, the leaders of Group A, while England, the leaders of Group Two, will face Senegal, the second-placed team in Group A.