Iran beat Wales 2-0 in the Men’s World Cup on Friday, when Roozbeh Cheshmin and Ramin Rezaeian scored great goals in overtime.
Iran, which dominated the match events in the second half, won only for the third time in the World Cup. The country is playing in the tournament for the sixth time. The workload was made a little easier by the fact that the Welsh goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey got a red card in the 86th minute of the game.
However, the victory was overshadowed by a clash between supporters and opponents of the Iranian regime, the confiscation of spectators’ belongings and the singing of the national anthem.
“They were pressured to sing”
Demonstrations against the old regime began in Iran in mid-September, when a 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died from the injuries he received in the police pipe. The morality police had arrested Amin because they thought he was wearing the scarf incorrectly.
According to the news agency AP, the political situation in Iran was visible outside the stadium before the start of the Wales match. Supporters defending the government harassed supporters opposing the government.
Some of the supporters confiscated pre-revolutionary Iranian lion flags and shouted insults at those whose shirts read “women, life, freedom”. Small groups of men also shouted angrily at protesting women who gave interviews to foreign media, the news agency says.
According to AP, supporters of the Iranian government also went around these women with the country’s national flags and took pictures of them with their phones.
In their opening match against England on Monday, Iran’s players did not sing during the national anthem. However, at the start of the Wales match, the players exchanged words while the audience in the stands was in tears.
– It matters how much the national team means, but also what is happening in the country at the moment, Urheilu’s expert Markus Halsti said after the national anthem ended.
of the Norwegian public broadcasting company NRK experts believe (you switch to another service)that the players would not have wanted to sing.
– I believe they were pressured to sing. Some of them tried to move their lips only a little, the Norwegian-Iranian media sociologist Sharam Alghasi said.
– They must have been pressured. It was an insult to the Iranian regime that sent the team to the Games when they did not sing (on Monday), stated NRK’s Middle East correspondent Sidsel Wold.
Media sociologist Alghasi believes that Iranian players are strongly influenced by the current state of their country.
– They get quite a bit of pressure from both the authorities and the opposition, i.e. the people. The team is divided in terms of who they want to represent, Alghasi estimates.
– The measures will be really harsh when the players living in Iran return home. They are in a really tight spot at the World Cup, between the people and the administration, correspondent Wold said.
“Women, life, freedom”
A man wearing a jersey who said he was against the Iranian regime was only allowed into the stadium under security escort. This is what an eyewitness told news agency Reuters before the start of the match.
The media contact person of the international football confederation Fifa did not respond to the news agency’s request for an interview, while the stadium’s media manager was not aware of the incident.
In the end, the spokesperson of Fifa’s highest organizing committee gave the answer. According to him, the man escorted to the stadium had something that is on the list of prohibited items by Fifa and Qatar. However, the answer did not specify what the prohibited items the man had were, Reuters reports.
The rules prohibit items with “political, offensive or discriminatory messages”. The man’s shirt read “Women, life, freedom”, the news agency reports.
A woman was also photographed in the stands of the stadium, who had painted her face with dark red, flowing tears. In his hands, he holds a football shirt with “Mahsa Amini, 22” printed on the back.
The man next to the woman was holding an Iranian flag with the slogan: “woman, life, freedom”. That ticket was confiscated by the stadium’s security guards.
On Thursday, it was reported that the Iranian football player Voria Ghafouri, 31, has been arrested. The matter was reported by several media, such as news agencies AFP and AP.
Iran International told (you switch to another service), that the reason for the arrest is “insulting and belittling the Iranian national team and propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran”. British newspaper the Independent by (you switch to another service) Ghafouri criticized both last week.