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<\/p>\nFriday\u2019s World Cup soccer match in Seattle was colorful, in every sense of the word.<\/p>\n
Hours before the evening match, fans and demonstrators of all sorts waved flags outside the stadium: Egypt and Iran national flags to cheer on teams set to play. Rainbow flags to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride. Lion-and-sun flags to protest Iran\u2019s Islamic Republic regime.<\/p>\n
All that before the game even started.<\/p>\n
After the roar of the crowd at kickoff, Iran\u2019s fans chanted as the game got underway but Egypt\u2019s team took hold of the play right away and scored within minutes, sending much of the stadium into wild applause. Then Iran equalized and the stadium exploded in sound again.<\/p>\n
There was a lot on the line for both teams. Both Egypt and Iran were primed to advance to the knockout stage of the FIFA Men\u2019s World Cup. <\/p>\n
But the city\u2019s latest World Cup contest was also particularly anticipated for the politics surrounding it.<\/p>\n
Seattle\u2019s host committee designated the game its \u201cPride Match\u201d when dates but no teams had been announced. Then the national soccer teams of Egypt and Iran \u2014 where being LGBTQ+ is criminalized \u2014 were announced as the competitors. And then the U.S. joined Israel in a war against Iran, exacerbating fractures among Iranian Americans, who approached the match with feelings that ranged from anger to wariness to joy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Leading up to the match, many spectators were unsure what Friday would bring, and the background to the game generated headlines worldwide.<\/p>\n
But Seattle\u2019s pregame Pride celebrations seemed to go ahead largely without incident, despite earlier objections by Egyptian and Iranian officials.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s team made its way to the match and played, despite travel complications involving President Donald Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n
And the stadium filled up with fans of many types, even as some Iranian Americans protested the Islamic Republic regime outside and Christian street preachers railed through amplifiers.<\/p>\n
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Nestor Medina came all the way from Mexico City to watch tonight\u2019s game because he wanted to play tourist in Seattle, and even more importantly, because he loves soccer. Tickets were too expensive and hard to come by back home.<\/p>\n
Medina was rooting for Iran because they\u2019re the underdog. This is his first ever World Cup match and he says it has a special energy. Why does he love soccer and the cup?<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause you can experience all the emotions. Love and anger. Togetherness,\u201d said Medina, 35, wearing Mexico soccer gear.<\/p>\n
\u2018A historic match\u2019<\/p>\n
Despite the roller coaster of news related to Pride festivities leading up to the game, there was a modest presence of people celebrating Pride outside the stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, some showed up with plenty of Pride spirit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sam, an Iranian American, wore a colorful ensemble for the match, including an \u201cIranian with Pride\u201d shirt, rainbow wig and tasseled face mask.<\/p>\n
He came up from San Francisco with a friend specifically because of the Pride Match day celebrations. As an openly gay man, Sam \u2014 who asked that his last name not be used because of fears for his family back in Iran \u2014 said it was important to show up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a historic match,\u201d said Sam, who immigrated to the U.S. from Iran when he was 23. \u201cI\u2019m so grateful for the freedom in the United States that gave me a new home to freely express who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just steps away, Li Nowlin-Sohl and her friends sipped drinks ahead of the game, sporting custom Pride-themed shirts that read \u201cLove Wins\u201d in Arabic, English and Farsi on the front and \u201cNo Iran War\u201d on the back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a lovely convergence of LGBTQ celebration and rights and sports,\u201d said Nowlin-Sohl, who was a member of the advisory committee for Pride Match day festivities.<\/p>\n
For those who couldn\u2019t snag a ticket to see the game in person, Seattle\u2019s host committee organized a number of official rainbow-drenched watch parties for visitors and locals, where they passed out scarves and flags.<\/p>\n
Seattle, considered by many one of the country\u2019s most LGBTQ+ friendly cities, was the only host city to hold such a celebration during the tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s, yes, an opportunity to celebrate, but it\u2019s also an opportunity to bring visibility for those that actually can\u2019t be visible and be who they are\u201d depending on where visitors are from, said Hedda McLendon, senior vice president of legacy of the host committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Protests outside stadium<\/p>\n
Fans squeezing their way along Occidental Avenue South to get into the stadium or sipping pregame beers found themselves face-to-face with the political repercussions of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The typical cacophony of an international sporting event was punctuated with hours of chanting from a large group of Iranians and Iranian Americans near the stadium protesting the human rights abuses of the Islamic Republic regime and calling for the return of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Waving lion-and-sun flags and chanting phrases like \u201cHey hey ho ho Islamic regime must go\u201d and \u201cShame on FIFA,\u201d the group engaged in several tense exchanges with fans carrying Iran\u2019s current national flag or Palestinian flags.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Karla Mohtashemi, a Seattle resident and board member of Washington-based antiregime advocacy group Voice of Iran, said the Iran national team represents the oppressive government she hopes to see replaced, calling them the \u201cregime team.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSoccer is one of the most beloved sports in Iran, but they can\u2019t even play soccer (there) without feeling the sadness, the overwhelming sadness\u201d surrounding the war, she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, others in the Iranian diaspora watched the protest warily as they made their way to the match.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shahab Aftahi and his daughter Elana Aftahi flew into Seattle with a large group of family members, after having cheered on the Iran national team earlier in the tournament in Inglewood, Calif.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI see people saying this is the IRGC team, I think that\u2019s giving the IRGC too much credit,\u201d said Elana Aftahi, referring to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a politically powerful military force in Iran. Aftahi said she would like to see the removal of the regime, but would rather see a democracy in Iran than a monarchy. \u201cThis has always been a national team to win the hearts of the people. They represent us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018In good spirits\u2019 <\/p>\n
To be sure, plenty of fans walked into Seattle Stadium focused on the soccer, watching the chaotic scene outside with mild curiosity or amusement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mixed in with Iran, Egypt and other World Cup national team jerseys, a decent number of fans flocking to Seattle Stadium were wearing Liverpool FC kits in a nod to Egyptian and Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah.<\/p>\n
A reminder that this is a soccer tournament, after all, not just a political event.<\/p>\n
Mary and Joe Youssef, Egyptian immigrants from Portland wearing pharaonic fan garb, said they are trying to steer clear of the politics playing out in Seattle streets this afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wish to win,\u201d said Joe Youssef, who also remarked on how nice everyone in Seattle has been to them.<\/p>\n
Others saw the chaotic scene outside the stadium as extra flavor for their World Cup experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tim Esraeel, along with his father, Hany, and brother, Joseph, came up from Orange County, Calif., to watch Egypt play. Their family watched the Pharaohs play back in 2017 in Egypt, a legendary game in which the team qualified for a spot in the 2018 World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been great today, a lot of cultures, a lot of people, the vibes have been really great,\u201d Tim Esraeel said, wearing an Egypt-themed cowboy hat.<\/p>\n
Standing outside the stadium, his brother said he\u2019d love to see a final score of 3-0 \u2014 \u201ca Mo Salah hat trick.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s the dream,\u201d Tim Esraeel replied.<\/p>\n
Tim Parker and Danny Torres came from Colorado for tonight\u2019s World Cup match.<\/p>\n
It was a welcome coincidence that they nabbed tickets for Seattle\u2019s Pride Match after they applied through FIFA for multiple games, the couple said. They didn\u2019t know which team to root for so they painted both Iran and Egypt flags on their cheeks and carried rainbow flags.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has been in good spirits,\u201d Parker said.<\/p>\n
Seattle Times reporters Olivia Petty and Sofia Schwarzwalder contributed to this story.<\/p>\n
Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks: 206-464-2246 or ayoonhendricks@seattletimes.com<\/a>: Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks is a race and equity reporter at The Seattle Times whose work focuses on the region\u2019s diverse communities and the political, economic and social challenges they face. Daniel Beekman: 206-464-2164 or dbeekman@seattletimes.com<\/a>: Daniel Beekman is a reporter at The Seattle Times, where he covers politics and communities, telling stories that explain how government decisions affect people across Washington. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Friday\u2019s World Cup soccer match in Seattle was colorful, in every sense of the word. Hours before the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[655,2982,34,27580,2576,2577,39171,39904],"class_list":["post-179760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-egypt","tag-fifa","tag-iran","tag-pride","tag-soccer","tag-world-cup","tag-worldcup","tag-wpresize"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116820191871699577","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}