The US-Iran World Cup match offered a glimmer of hope

Growing up, my friends and I played basketball, baseball, and soccer.

The only time we played soccer was one summer in middle school in the city league between the baseball and soccer seasons. Ironically, they won the age group championship with no losses and no goals. After that season we went back to our regular sports schedule.

I have never been a fan of the FIFA World Cup. This FIFA World Cup brings together the best national teams to compete every four years. Some employees born in Mexico or with close ties to Mexico took a break from work when Mexico was watching the game. Whenever this happened, the office turned into a potluck dinner, with employees wearing official jerseys and cheering for the team.

Now I’m really looking forward to the World Cup bringing camaraderie to the office.

In a broader sense, the World Cup is an opportunity to unite the world in peace to enjoy a sporting event like the Olympics.It is also an opportunity for the host country to showcase its people and culture. Qatar reportedly spent $200 billion on him to host his 2022 World Cup. Over 5 billion people are estimated to watch the games on television during the 29 days of the tournament.

But the World Cup is like the Olympics, sport becomes politics, and sport becomes politics. Qatar have been criticized by many teams, countries and fans over several issues. One of them is the treatment of migrant workers, many of whom accuse Qatar of poor and shabby treatment of migrant workers’ housing. This is no small accusation, as nine out of ten of his Qatari residents are non-Qatari. Another issue concerns the state’s stance on LGBTQ rights, which has been strongly enforced during the Games.

Another is hot potatoes, which involve the country’s male guardianship law. The law, which can be difficult to interpret, limits women’s rights within the country. A woman must obtain permission from a male guardian to travel abroad, marry, or work in certain industries. Until early 2020, Qatari women had to obtain parental permission to obtain a driver’s license. These are unthinkable situations in the Western world, and I am far too keen to point this out.

Individual fans can also bring enthusiasm and disrespect to a team or country through their actions at the World Cup. A group of U.S. fans probably chanted “it’s soccer, not soccer” referring to the U.S. tendency to use the former term for sports, while most of the world tends to use the latter. Many outside of America would point out that Americans should not preach to the world. Especially when soccer tends to be relegated to a secondary sport compared to America’s major professional sports. Soccer is the most popular sport in most countries of the world.

Then there is personal animosity between certain countries such as the United States and Iran. Ahead of the match against Iran on Nov. 29, the U.S. Soccer Federation changed the Iranian flag on her social media and removed the Islamic Republic emblem from her for 24 hours, to women fighting for human rights in Iraq. showed support for In response, Iran posted an image of a burning American flag.

With the ongoing hostility between the two countries that raged during the 1979 Iranian Revolution, many fans and citizens have turned the US and Iranian World Cup players into scapegoats in a national battle that projected their animosity onto the football field. tended to be soldiers. I watched the USA vs Iran game and came home with a completely different feeling.I was especially impressed with the Iranian players. They refused to sing the national anthem at the opener in protest of the government’s treatment of women. They did this after being previously threatened by the government if they openly protested government policies. I worried about what they would face after returning home.

After the United States won the game, there was a show of sportsmanship with players from the opposing teams shaking hands and hugging each other. While the match was going on, I kept thinking that this match was more personally and politically meaningful to the Iranians. The Americans certainly wanted to win the World Cup, but even if they lost, they would return to a country that welcomed them and didn’t threaten to retaliate against their free speech in Qatar.

We need to take a step back and recognize that athletes on the field are not personally responsible for animosity between nations. is projected onto Sporting events such as the World Cup allow the world to come together in peace and leave negative emotions behind. The US vs. Iran match offered a sliver of hope that this was possible.

Jerry Pacheco is executive director of the International Business Accelerator, a nonprofit trade counseling program at the New Mexico Small Business Development Centers Network. He can be reached at 575-589-2200 or jerry@nmiba.com.