The 1998 game between Iran and the USA was one of the most politicized in World Cup history.

24 years ago, Iran and the United States faced each other for the first time in a World Cup.

At the time, constant conflicts between the political classes of the two countries made the match one of the most politicized in the history of the world championship.

This Tuesday (29), the two teams will meet again, but in another context: the recent protests in the Middle Eastern country have dissipated the rivalry between the two teams, and the current political pressure hovers only under the Iranian players and under the Islamic regime.

USA and Iran will meet at 4 pm (Brasília time), at the Al Thumama stadium, in Doha, to define the future of each one in the World Cup in Qatar. They are in Group B, which also has England and Wales.

The 1998 confrontation, in the Cup in France, began in December of the previous year, when FIFA drew the tournament groups.

At the time, Group F already had Germany, the USA and Yugoslavia – according to the rules of the championship, the fourth place would be filled by Iran or Colombia. The Middle East country was drawn, immediately causing anxiety on both sides.

It was extraordinary because we all felt the enormous political significance of that match,” Tom King, managing director of the US team, told a great BBC documentary about the match.

From then on, the Iranian media, linked to the regime, intensified coverage of the selection and treated the match as one of the most important in the history of football in the country.

The game would take place a little less than ten years before the end of the war between Iran and Iraq, the latter financially supported by the US, which saw the Islamic Revolution in Iran as a threat.

“We are not going to lose. Many families of martyrs hope that we will win,” Iranian striker Khodadad Aziz said days before the game, referring to the 500,000 compatriots who died or were wounded in the war.

Aziz was the main player of the selection in that period and until today he is considered one of the best footballers in the history of the country.

The political context of the match was also heavily exploited by the regime, which saw football as a tool to expand the popularity of the Islamic Revolution.

Even for that reason, days before the match, the Iranian Football Federation announced that its players would not shake hands with the Americans during the match – according to Fifa regulations, it is up to the B team in the starting line-up to line up and greet the opponents after the anthems are played. national.

The order would have come directly from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Such a decision caused FIFA to open an exception in its protocol. After a series of negotiations, the federation managed to make the American team responsible for greeting the Iranians.

In return, players from the Middle Eastern country would deliver white roses to their opponents and, finally, the two teams would pose interspersed for a photo.

Although with lesser intensity, the US government also exploited the match politically.

Three days before the game, then US President Bill Clinton recorded a video saying he hoped the match was “one more step towards ending the divide between the two nations”.

At the same time, a month before the match, the European security agency discovered that Al Qaeda intended to attack the US national team in the hotel where the players would be staying in France.

The plan also consisted of killing footballers and fans of the English national team in the match against Tunisia, valid for the World Cup.

Even though the scheme was discovered, the days of the American team in the tournament were accompanied by dozens of security agents.

Finally, Iran beat the USA by 2 to 1. The result meant the first victory of the Iranians in a World Cup and eliminated the Americans from the tournament. In Tehran, thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate.

In 2022, however, what matters least is the result of the match. Iran has been experiencing a series of protests against the regime for more than two months.

The demonstrations began after the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who was in custody of the country’s moral police for allegedly not wearing the hijab, the Islamic veil, in the correct way.

The protests have left at least 416 dead, 51 of them children, according to the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), based in Norway.

“The current context is very different from 1998 because at that time it was only a few years after the war; now, it’s more about a revolution happening inside Iran,” he told Sheet Pasha Hajian, founder of an Iranian football podcast.

Political tension, by the way, even affects the strong and historic connection of the Iranian people with their national team. In recent weeks, protesters have criticized the players, associated in some ways with the regime.

For Hajian, however, the criticism is unfair. He cites, for example, the reactions of Iranian players to the protests.

In a friendly even before the World Cup in Qatar, the footballers entered the field and remained dressed in black jackets during the playing of the national anthem, covering the uniform that identifies them as the Iran team.

In Qatar, players did not sing the national anthem against England; the first for the team in this year’s Cup – the protest was not repeated on Friday (25), when Iran faced Wales.

“The pressure to win the 1998 game was greater because, at that time, the news reaching the players said that the US was the enemy. But now the generations have changed, and the Iranians are closer to the world. About 20 players in the national team , by the way, play in Europe; at that time, it was much less”, says Hajian.

Interestingly, the only two players who publicly support the regime play for a team from their own country.

For all these circumstances, the focus of this Tuesday’s match will be much more on the relationship between Iranian fans and players; at least this time the Americans will be supporting actors.

“This game is no longer between Iran and the US. It is the players of the Iranian national team against their own fans, or, as some like to say, it will be Iran’s game against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” says Hajian.