It is unlikely that FIFA president Gianni Infantino spent the weekend fulfilling what he said in his first meeting with the press at the World Cup: “Chill and relax”. The suggestion to relax and stay calm is not appropriate for Iran’s opening day, with pressure from the Persian country’s government.
Players arrive at the stadium instructed to leave the field in case of disrespect for the country’s flag or insults against the Iranian people. This includes ancient flags, with the Sun and the lion, symbols of Persia and adopted by communities that migrated to the United States after the 1979 revolution.
Many live in Los Angeles, in the Westwood region, where an Iranian community has made the place known as Teerangeles, a mixture of the name of the capital, Tehran, and the California city.
Infantino will never admit that the best way to avoid problems would be for Iran to be eliminated as quickly as possible. It would put an end to the risks of embarrassment that may arise if players threaten to withdraw from the game and the World Cup.
Iran is in its fifth World Cup, fourth in a row, and, although it has been eliminated each time in the group stage, it has had victories in recent campaigns, against Morocco, in 2018, and Wales, in 2022.
The team has players like Taremi, runner-up in the Champions League with Internazionale a year ago, and currently a player for Olympiacos, in Greece. It’s not a big deal. They can win games and reach the knockout stages.
This information, combined with the chance of advancing as one of the best third-placed teams and the fact that their seed rivals are Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand, increases the chances of the Iranians remaining until at least the second round.
It would multiply by four the risk of embarrassment with removal from the field, because the chance of someone carrying flags with the sun and lion is not limited to the first day.
It is the World Cup of unprecedented problems, three countries, 104 games and, for the first time, the host at war with one of the participants.
Iraq played in the 1986 World Cup while in conflict with Iran, but the Iranians did not qualify.
The Falklands War ended on the second day of the 1982 World Cup, with the Argentine surrender. When you try to tell someone linked to FIFA that it is unprecedented for the host country to be at war, the response is with the idea that France, host country in 1938 and 1998, has always had some troops somewhere on the planet.
The Algerian War began in 1954 and ended in 1962, an accurate notion of the unprecedented nature of this case in the United States, even though there were American troops in the Persian Gulf in 1994. Still remembering that France was the headquarters on the cusp of the Second World War. The planet was sick, war did not yet exist.
Today the world is sick again and the war is in full swing. Donald Trump needs it to end as quickly as possible, but he can’t stop it.
With all this, it is fair to say that, no, Infantino is not relaxed and calm hours before Iran take the field — much less with the prospect of the team qualifying for the second phase.
He is praying that nothing happens outside of plans and that Iran does not feel offended by political and xenophobic demonstrations.
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