The possibility of protest and non-protests are looming large over the England vs Iran World Cup match this afternoon (5 a.m.
PST). All eyes will be trained on the Iranian football team during the country’s pre-game national anthem as protests rage back home sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in custody last September.
Footballer Ehsan Hajsafi yesterday became the first member of Iran’s national team to speak out from the World Cup in Doha in apparent support of anti-government protests at home. “They should know that we are with them.
And we support them. And we sympathize with them regarding the conditions,” the AEK Athens player told a news conference. In the past few days, Iran captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh refused to confirm whether his team will sing the national anthem. “You’re asking about national anthem – that’s something that also has to be decided about in the team, which we already talked about and obviously everybody’s talking about,” he told a press conference on Wednesday.