Now, Iran-Iraq Conflict Is Only a Game
Twenty years ago, Iraq and Iran launched into a bitter war, killing hundreds of thousands of people on both sides and wiping the largest Iranian port off the map.
On Wednesday, the longtime rivals will confront each other once again, this time in front of 50,000 fans on a soccer field in Beirut in a tournament for the Asian Cup.
Millions more around the world will tune in to radio and satellite TV broadcasts of the game, including tens of thousands of Iranian and Arab Americans living in Southern California.
It isn’t the first time Iran and Iraq have played each other since their 8-year conflict ended in a U.N.-brokered cease fire, not long before Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Twice before, Iraq humiliated Iran in soccer, beating them in a 1996 Asian Cup encounter and in 1993 in a World Cup qualifying game.
“If one match in the whole [tournament] comes even halfway toward matching the Iran vs. Iraq clash [in] 1996, we can all consider ourselves extremely lucky to have seen it,” the official Asian Football newsletter said in its Sept. 25 Internet edition. “Full-blooded, passionate, frenetic and yet amazingly fair, it was a match of total commitment from the first few seconds through to the 90th strength-sapping minute.”
But many fans and commentators predict a less politically strained game between the two nations Wednesday than in the past.
Bolstering the perceived detente is Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, who on a rare visit to Baghdad last week to help resolve the two countries’ differences, reportedly shook Hussein’s hand. The encounter took place three weeks after Kharrazi whipped up expatriate furor with wartime recollections during a private gathering at the Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel.
“We do not look at [the game] officially,” said Hossein Nosrat, spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York. Still, “I’m sure players on both sides feel pressure, because they know the expectation of the fans back home.”
Iranian team members, reached in Frankfurt, Germany, shortly before they boarded their plane for Beirut last week, agreed.
“I understand people’s sensitivities. But we need do the sport for sport,” said Mehdi Mahdavikia, who scored Iran’s lone goal in a game against the United States at the Rose Bowl earlier this year.
Added star forward Ali Daei, who scored Iran’s only goal in a match against Thailand on Sunday: “We hope we will play great soccer without emotional baggage. . . . We’re not just going to beat Iraq, we’re going to become winners of the Asian Cup.”
Even Nader Zehtab, production manager for the Persian-language radio station KIRN-AM (670) and an Iranian veteran of the war, said he wasn’t looking to Wednesday’s match for revenge. His wish is for a good game, better at least than the lackluster performance by his homeland’s team Sunday, which mustered only a 1-1 tie with the lower-ranked Thai team.
Nonetheless, Iranian soccer experts predict that the encounter will be “footballe ghayratee,” or zealous soccer, with players propelled by national pride rather than well-executed strategies.
“Unfortunately, that seems to often drive Iranian soccer, even though the players are excellent,” said commentator Behrooz Afrakhan, who along with Arash Hafizi in Los Angeles and Mehrdad Bahri in Beirut will be announcing Wednesday’s 9:35 a.m. game on KIRN.
Several Iraqi Americans sought for comment were reluctant to discuss the game or its political implications. There is a bias against American news media since the Persian Gulf War, one Arab sportswriter said.
“This is one of the biggest games in the past year,” said Mercey Alwatfa, a Syrian American who lives in Ventura, writes for the Los Angeles-based Beirut Times and referees national soccer.
“I’m with the Iraqi side,” he added with a laugh. “It’s simple. At least they speak my language. But if Iran played against anyone else--except the United States--I’d go with Iran.”
The Iranian team, coached by Jalal Talebi, a former Palo Alto restaurant owner, is ranked higher than any of its competitors in the first round of the tournament. Iran won the Asian Cup in 1968, 1972 and 1976.
As seen in its Sunday game against Thailand, however, ranking is no guarantee of victory.
Although another loss to Iraq would put a serious dent in Iranian morale, Wednesday’s game isn’t necessarily a do-or-die match. The Iranian national team will probably advance to the next round regardless, sportscasters predict.
That round should prove even more interesting from a geopolitical perspective, Alwatfa said; There’s a good chance Iraq will face off against Kuwait.
