Hassan Nazari, a former soccer player for the Iranian national team and a Dallas resident, weighed in on Tuesday’s world cup matchup between the U.S. and Iran.
Nazari, who kicked his first ball at the age of 5, founded the youth soccer club, the Dallas Texans, in 1993. Before that, he was one of the youngest Iranians to sign a professional contract at 16. He went on to play on the national team for the 1976 Olympics and the 1978 World Cup.
“I remember how happy I was and how nervous I was,” Nazari said about the World Cup games in Argentina. That year, Iran did not make it out of the group stage.
This week, history repeated itself as Iran played Nazari’s new home country but again failed to advance from the World Cup group stage.
“Psychologically, Iranian players are a little more under pressure because they are dealing with so many things off the team,” said Nazari.
The Iranian team is playing against the backdrop of human rights protests. Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets after Mahsa Amini died while in the custody of Iran’s morality police under charges of wearing inappropriate clothing, according to ABC 8.
The U.S. Soccer Federation reportedly changed Iran’s national flag on social media to support the protests, deleting the emblem of the Islamic Republic, with the Iranian flag only bearing its familiar green, white, and red colors.
Following the protests, an Iranian player who is not on the national team was arrested.
But Nazari said if you are playing in the World Cup, it is goals over politics, and recalled playing in a similar climate in the 1970s. He added that while protests should be acknowledged, players should focus on controlling what they can control.
When asked which team he was cheering for during Tuesday’s match, he said, “As a soccer fan, I would like the better team to advance.”
The U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT) ultimately took down Iran 1-0 in Tuesday’s match, advancing out of the group stage, as reported by The Dallas Express. The win was the first for the USMNT in the last five matches. The team will face the Netherlands in a sudden-death game. Iran was eliminated due to the loss after England beat Wales earlier in the day.
The win came at a potentially steep price for the Americans, as Christian Pulisic, the star player of the team, who scored the lone goal in the game, suffered an abdominal injury and had to be treated at a local hospital. His availability for the match against the Netherlands is in question.