Fans turned up wearing shirts bearing the slogan ‘Minab 168’ – the number of children killed in a US-Israeli airstrike on a school – while others supported the regime
Iranians went to war with each other at an extraordinary World Cup clash in the shadow of arch enemy America’s Tinseltown – with clashes in the stands.
Until Iran’s players stepped onto the pitch at the Los Angeles Stadium down the road from Hollywood many believed their participation in the soccer showpiece would be little more than a movie-worthy fantasy.
But captain Medhi Taremi led his team from the tunnel to wild cheers from 35,000 Iranian ex-pats who travelled from across the US to see their football heroes play in the heartland of the nation it has been fighting for the past four months.
Players wept as chants of ‘Iran’ rolled down from the stands. Moments later the harmony was shattered as the national anthem of Iran’s Islamic Republic was greeted by a chorus of boos.
The clash of emotions summed up the battles being fought internally and externally by the Middle East nation.
Some fans turned up wearing shirts bearing the slogan ‘Minab 168’ – representing the number of children killed in a US-Israeli airstrike on a school at the start of the war.
Others said they were attacked, insulted and abused on their way to the match by mobs of extremist fellow Iranians – supporters of the ruling regime of religious clerics and its brutal Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps henchmen the twin nations started bombing in February.
Cancer nurse Kiani Alavi, 35, said she was confronted 10 times by a crowd of up to 50 telling her to take the Iranian flag she had wrapped round her ‘off your a**’.
“It was terrible,” she said. “I really didn’t expect anything like it. I don’t support either regime but they were very intimidating. They were insulting me and my family. I nearly burst into tears. I just want to support my country and see them play at the World Cup.”
Marjan Vayghan, 36, who has been twice kidnapped by the IRGC in her homeland, said security guards confiscated half-and-half US-Iran scarves and t-shirts bearing images of children killed by the militia that she tried to take into the stadium to give away.
One young woman filmed her on her phone then made a rude one-finger gesture while ‘old men’ stared at her in a sinister bid to stop her ‘telling the truth about the regime’.
“I don’t care. I’m here to spread love,” said the artist who managed to smuggle in anti-IRGC stickers in her bra.
Marjan, who has staged feminist shows inside Iran, said she forgave her fellow countrymen – including the team – for cosying up to the nation’s rulers.
“Every Iranian is a victim of abuse by the oppressors,” she said. “People have been forced to support it. It is not by choice. That is why I will stand alongside them to support the team.”
England fan Oliver Jenks, 34, arrived in an Alan Shearer Three Lions’ shirt to watch the historic ‘World War Cup’ clash in a black London cab he plans to drive to matches in all 16 host cities across the US, Canada and Mexico.
“Politics shouldn’t play any part in football. But it does. This is one of the most extraordinary matches,” he said.
Iran was forced to switch its tournament HQ from Tucson, Arizona, US, across the border to Tijuana, Mexico, after American officials refused to grant entry visas to squad members who did national service with the IRGC – viewed as a terror network in the States and Canada.
The players are allowed to jet in and out for matches but nine officials refused entry were forced to stay in Mexico and watch it on TV. No Iranian fans were allowed into the US for the game.
Iran twice fought back from a goal down to force a 2-2 draw that leaves all four teams in Group G level with a point each after Belgium’s clash with Egypt finished 1-1.
Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood assisted two Elijah Just goals for New Zealand while ex-Brentford star Saman Ghoddos started for Iran.