Shameful treatment of Iran at World Cup sets terrible precedent | Opinion

IRVINE, Ca. — Shameful as the treatment of Iran has been at this World Cup, it has the potential to be worse.

By placating the U.S. government’s petulance toward Iran, which forced Team Melli to move their training camp at the eleventh hour and put curfew-like conditions on their first two games in the United States, FIFA opened a Pandora’s box. Every future host, of FIFA tournaments at every level, is now free to do the same to countries they don’t like.

The United States included.

“Whatever we say, it’s nothing to do with politics. It’s just the behavior shown toward us. We’re only voicing this because we don’t want such behavior to occur in the future for other teams,” Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei said ahead of his team’s second group-stage game, against Belgium.

Iran was eliminated after Algeria and Austria tied 3-3 in the final group stage game. Team Melli had draws in all three of their games, though they had goals disallowed in the last two games, including what would have been a game-winner in stoppage time against Egypt on Friday, June 26.

Whether Iran would have won any of its games if not for the restrictions on them is up for debate. But imagine the uproar if another host treated the U.S. men’s or women’s national teams like juvenile delinquents, booting them from their training camp at the last minute, not allowing them to plan their own travel and blacklisting U.S. Soccer officials. The outrage would be off the charts.

But that is what FIFA has opened the door to by allowing the United States to penalize and humiliate Iran’s soccer team in a proxy war with the Iranian government.

“You cannot deny that our situation has (not) been the same as all the other teams," midfielder Saeid Ezatolahi said after Iran arrived less than 16 hours before its second group-stage game.

FIFA allowed US government to play politics with World Cup

FIFA, like the International Olympic Committee, likes to claim it is apolitical. That the Olympics and World Cup help foster peace and stability, and wading into anything political would be putting their thumb on the scale and cheapening their crown jewel.

Yet that is exactly what FIFA did with this World Cup.

Back in 2017, FIFA president Gianni Infantino made it clear the organization took a dim view of any World Cup host who would try and play bouncer. The comment was noteworthy because President Donald Trump had issued his first travel ban, and the United States, along with Canada and Mexico, was then bidding for the rights to this World Cup.

“When it comes to FIFA competitions, any team, including the supporters and officials of that team, who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup. That is obvious," Infantino said.

Fast forward to the day before this tournament began, after Trump and his administration had proved themselves to be the antithesis of a gracious host by putting onerous conditions on Iran and refusing to allow in fans from multiple countries.

Infantino was just fine with the mean-spiritedness.

“We have to respect that we are not kings of the world, who can rule over governments and police forces. We are a sports organization that does as much as we can,” Infantino said. “It’s important sometimes to chill, relax. We work on everything. Sometimes screaming and shouting does not find a solution.”

FIFA leaves itself open to future problems

But abandoning your principles — what few of them Infantino and FIFA had, anyway — for the sake of self-interest only guarantees future problems.

Yes, FIFA got the massive, and massively successful, tournament in the United States that it wanted. At what cost, though?

“I just hope the world will achieve peace and the peace will be sustainable in the world,” Ghalenoei said. “And I hope this kind of behavior does not become institutionalized in the World Cup.”

Everyone should hope that. Because today it’s Iran. Tomorrow it could be another country, the United States included.

Even if FIFA wants to regain control of its tournaments, the precedent has been set. All a host will have to do is trot out that clip of Infantino throwing up his hands and saying FIFA cannot interfere with a host country’s immigration policies. Make some baseless claims about terrorism and needing to ensure its national security.

FIFA will have no room to argue, not after the debacle of this tournament.

“FIFA is doing their best. We know they have some problems, too, they cannot solve. As you know,” striker Mehdi Taremi said after Iran’s final group-stage game. “But football have to be apart (from) a politician. That's what we're looking for. That's the message we want to leave.”

Sadly, it’s too late now. FIFA’s tacit approval of the U.S. government’s treatment of Iran opened the door for future hosts to be equally vindictive, and there’s no walking that back.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.