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'Welcome to U.S.A.' Iranian soccer team makes historic visit for friendlies
Posted: Friday January 07, 2000 05:23 PM
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Iranian soccer players scrimmaged beneath a huge red stadium billboard extolling "Bud: King of Beers," a symbol of the American lifestyle that has been a target of Iran's ayatollahs for more than two decades. Farshid Asad held a simpler sign, a handmade cardboard placard proclaiming "Welcome to U.S.A." and featuring green and white Iranian flags. For Asad, the unprecedented visit of his nation's team was a reason for optimism. "It's the first step, I hope," said Asad, a native of Tehran who owns a Subway sandwich shop in the San Francisco suburb of Mountain View. "It's time to forget the past." The Iranian soccer team's visit for three exhibition matches is its first since Washington severed diplomatic ties with Iran in 1979 after militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. It follows an exchange of wrestling teams between Iran and the U.S. last year, and it highlights what appears to be a partial thaw in the bitter battle of rhetoric and opposing ideologies between the two nations. "This started with wrestling diplomacy in 1998. This is the latest step in the process of the United States and Iran coming back together," said John Marks, president of Washington-based Search for Common Ground, a private group promoting international understanding and conflict resolution. "The Iranian government has made clear it doesn't want to do this on a government-to-government level, and sports is one avenue for that. The two countries are feeling each other out in a slow way. There are substantial differences that won't be settled on the soccer field or the wrestling mat, but these build confidence and make possible other exchanges." Iran plays Mexico on Sunday at the Oakland Coliseum, a site that just a few weeks ago was filled with Raiders fans. The Iranians then meet Ecuador Wednesday at the Coliseum in Los Angeles. On Jan. 16, they play the United States at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. That last contest is a rematch of the World Cup game in which Iran defeated the Americans 2-1 last year in France. "I am very happy that, after 21 years, soccer has given me a chance to be here," said Iranian captain Javad Zarrincheh, who at 32 is one of the few members of his team old enough to remember the hostage crisis. "I am happy sport will be a bond that will bring people of the world together," he said through a translator. Though relations remain tense between Iran and the nation some of its religious leaders still refer to as the "Great Satan," ties have improved since the 1997 election of reformist President Mohammad Khatami and his appeal for "a crack in the wall of mistrust" between the two countries. That appeal led to a group of American wrestlers attending a tournament in Iran last year, and an Iranian wrestling team visiting the United States. There have been exchanges of environmentalists, and an American astronaut went to Iran to view an eclipse. About 300 Iranians and Iranian-Americans greeted their nation's soccer team at the Oakland Airport Wednesday night and watched with glee as a box of uniforms labeled "shorteh sabz va ghermez" (red and green shorts) was unloaded. A few dozen fans were on hand during practice Thursday, expressing hope the team's visit will mirror the ping-pong diplomacy of the early 1970s in which sports exchanges helped warm U.S. relations with China. "The goal is soccer. We are happy to play against three strong teams," said Iranian coach Mansour Pourhaidari. "It is also true that sports brings people together and I am happy when this gap narrows." Even though these are exhibition games, Iranian fans are serious about the contests. In an editorial on the Website www.irankicks.com, which focuses on Iranian soccer, the Jan. 16 match in Pasadena was seen as a chance to reaffirm the World Cup win over the Americans. "The Iranian national team is in a win, win situation," the editorial said. "If they lose to the U.S. team, they can always be happy since they will go back home with pockets full of dollars. If they win or tie, then they will make a statement to the world that what happened in France was not just luck."
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