War of words erupts as US and Iran set to square off

The American and Iranian football teams are the only ones putting politics aside as the sides meet in a match to determine if either nation continues in this World Cup.

The two met at the 1998 World Cup in France when memories of the 1979 Islamic Revolution were still fresh for both countries. Even the White House was talking about the game as thenPresident Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeline Albright used the match to discuss the possible resumption of diplomatic relations with Iran, which had been cut off since the 1979-81 hostage crisis.

The State Department a month before that game called Iran the world’s “most active” sponsor of terrorism, so nerves were frayed for both nations. And just a week ahead of kickoff, a French television station broadcast the 1991 film Not Without My Daughter, a movie based on the true story of an American woman who escaped Iran with her daughter against the wishes of her Iranian husband.

The Iranians claimed the broadcast was a purposeful insult.

Iran won 2-1 but neither team advanced to the knockout rounds. They met one other time — a 1-1 draw in a 2000 friendly.

Now the teams head into their final Group B match today at 8am and the US can advance only with a win. Iran would advance with a win, and perhaps a draw depending on the result of England’s match against Wales.

But headed into one of the most politically charged matches — rematch in this case — in tournament history, the conversation was again not centred on winning or losing.

In yesterday’s pre-match news conference, US captain Tyler Adams and coach Gregg Berhalter were asked about a variety of social and political subjects that had nothing to do with what happens on the field.

Adams was asked to defend American treatment of black people and chastised for pronouncing the opponent “Eye-ran” instead of “E-ran.”

Berhalter was questioned about US immigration and naval policy, and also apologised for the US Soccer Federation’s decision to strip the emblem of the Islamic Republic from Iran’s flag in a since-deleted social media post.

Iran coach Carlos Queiroz was asked about the social media post, which led the governing body of Iranian football to demand Fifa expel the US from the tournament. He said he did not intend to use the controversy as motivation.

“If after 42 years in this game as a coach, I still believe that I could win games with those mental games, I think I did not learn nothing about the game,” Queiroz said.

Wales v England

British rivals meet at the World Cup when Wales face England with animosity high between the nations over a 2016 video.

Footage went viral six years ago of Wales players celebrating wildly when England were eliminated from the European Championships in a humiliating defeat.

Wales had lost to England in the group stage and were ecstatic to see their neighbours lose.

Now set to meet today at 8am in their final group game, England can send Wales home.

The Three Lions need only a draw to move into the knockout stage but Wales must win to advance at their first World Cup since 1958..

“I don’t think it takes a genius to see how we’ve improved since 2016. For me, it feels like a completely different team,” England forward Marcus Rashford said. “We’ve come on so much. We’ve learned a lot about ourselves along the way.”