Los Angeles is often nicknamed “Tehrangeles” – a fact that drew smiles from both player and manager when it was mentioned at the news conference.<\/p>\n
Many Iranian-Americans will be heading to SoFi Stadium on Monday where Iran will open their World Cup campaign against New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Many will not be there to cheer, but to protest.<\/p>\n
Fifa has banned the pre-revolutionary Lion and Sun flag – a powerful symbol for many Iranians living abroad.<\/p>\n
The decision has angered parts of the diaspora.<\/p>\n
“You don’t come to Los Angeles and tell us we can’t fly the Lion and Sun flag,” said activist Arezo Rashidian, who is helping organise demonstrations outside the stadium.<\/p>\n
“This is the largest Iranian community outside Iran. Many of us came here after the revolution. We’re opposing Fifa’s ban and standing in solidarity with the people of Iran.”<\/p>\n
Many members of the diaspora are hostile towards Iran’s regime, and some see the squad as an extension of the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n
“It’s unfortunate that the regime turns athletes into mouthpieces.” said Rashidian. “We want athletes to remain athletes.”<\/p>\n
Despite that, she and many others still plan to attend the match.<\/p>\n
“We understand the pressure they’re under,” she said. “We’ll carry our colours. We’ll cheer for Iran – the country – held captive by the Islamic Republic.”<\/p>\n
But while protesters prepare to make their voices heard outside the stadium, Iran’s players say their focus remains on football.<\/p>\n
“As players of the national team, we play for every single Iranian, whether in the diaspora or in Iran,” Taremi said.<\/p>\n
“In every country people have different opinions. We are here to unite people and bring joy. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. We don’t get involved in politics.”<\/p>\n
That may be the ideal.<\/p>\n
But for Iran’s team, keeping politics outside the stadium could prove difficult in a tournament where football has often felt like a sideshow for this squad.<\/p>\n
“There is no winning for Iran’s team,” investigative football journalist Samindra Kunti said.<\/p>\n
“Given the circumstances, the political pressure, the location of the matches and the diaspora in Los Angeles, they’re under enormous pressure.”<\/p>\n
“It’s impossible to avoid the politics.<\/p>\n
“Everything becomes a reminder of their situation.”<\/p>\n
The players face pressure from home, pressure from the host nation and pressure from a diaspora determined to make its voice heard.<\/p>\n
All before a ball has been kicked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles is often nicknamed “Tehrangeles” – a fact that drew smiles from both player and manager when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-639626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}