Protest against the Iranian regime can also be seen in the soccer World Cup. According to head coach Carlos Queiroz, the pressure around Iran’s players has grown intolerable.
Mika Halonen,
Ossi Saarinen
The protests raging in Iran against the country’s administration are also visible in the soccer World Cup in Qatar. Iran head coach, Portuguese Carlos Queiroz spoke for a long time after the opening match of the Games about his team’s difficult position. On Monday, Iran lost to England 2–6.
Some Iranian national team players, such as the number one star, Sardar Azmounhave taken a stand for women’s rights and criticized the administration.
Some fans have accused the team of not standing up before the World Cup to oppose the regime, which is suppressing protests in Iran with violence. The Iranian team also met the president Ebrahim Raisia before the World Cup trip.
According to Reuters, Queiroz was furious that the players were being dragged into the domestic crisis. In addition, he defended his players, referring to the fact that the games are being played in Qatar and at a strange time.
– It is not the players’ fault that the World Cup is being held at the moment. Let the boys play, they want to represent the country, represent the people, like any other national team.
For example Azadeh– woman commented to that she hopes the players don’t sing the national anthem before the England match. That’s how they work too. Some Iranians cheered and applauded, some booed.
Queiroz continued that in the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, Iran had the support of the entire nation. The Portuguese coach criticized those who have come to the games to “disturb the team” with things other than football.
– Why did they come here to oppose the team? It is much better that they stay at home.
– You can’t even imagine what goes on behind the scenes and what these boys have experienced in the last few days just because they want to play. Whatever they do or say, they want to be lynched.
The head coach thinks it’s not right to come to the World Cup and ask the players to do things that are not their responsibility.
– They are here for people, to bring pride, joy, happiness to people.
The Swedish broadcasting company SVT interviewed an Iranian player Mehdi Taremia After the England game (you switch to another service). Taremi did not want to answer when asked how the atmosphere has affected the team.
– Let’s talk about football, thank you, Taremi replied.
SVT journalist Johan Kücükaslan repeated the question and got the answer:
– We are here to play football. Let’s talk about it. Like I said, it was a tough game for us.
Iran next play on Friday against Wales. Today, the World Cup will feature the matches Argentina-Saudi Arabia (TV2 at 11:30), Denmark-Tunisia (MTV at 3 p.m.), Mexico-Poland (MTV at 6 p.m.) and France-Australia (TV2 at 8:30 p.m.). See the full match schedule here.