It was supposed to be a warm-up match for the World Cup, one of many that took place in the past week.
Uruguay, with the veteran Luis Suarez and the young Darwin Nunes, showed up at the modest stadium in St. Polten, Austria, for a friendly against Iran.
In the days before the game, the world media was talking about the return of Carlos Kirosh, the 69-year-old Portuguese coach, for a second term as coach of the Iranian national team.
But very quickly the preparations for the World Cup became a secondary matter - it became a political story.
Carlos Kirosh.
The renewed premiere on the lines dropped from the headlines very quickly, photo: AFP
It started when the Austrians unexpectedly announced that they would not allow the crowd to enter the stands.
The reason quickly became clear: it was a demand of the Iranian association, which was afraid of protest signs against the regime in Tehran.
A few hours before the opening whistle, the ban was lifted.
The day before the game, the media representatives received a message that they too would not be able to enter the stadium.
It was already excessive.
After all, the game is taking place in Austria and not in Tehran.
Darwin Nunez.
On the grass, the Iranian team won, photo: Reuters
Quite a few English media people came to St. Paulten, as England's opening game in the World Cup will be against Iran.
They were not ready to accept the delusional decision and after an urgent appeal to FIFA, the organizers had no choice, and the media was allowed to enter.
The Iranian team, it must be said, looked excellent.
They won 0:1 with a goal by Mehdi Tarmi, the Porto star.
The two defenders, Hossein Kanani and Shoja Khalilzadeh, did a good job against Suarez and Nunes, and in midfield Saeed Aztolahi, from the Danish Veela, stood out.
For those who missed the goal 👇pic.twitter.com/L73vecmTJW
— Arya 🇮🇷 🇨🇦 (@Twenty9United) September 23, 2022
But the journalists reported not only what happened on the grass, but also what happened in the stands, when two fans waved a sign that supports the demonstrations that are taking place throughout Iran, in protest of the killing of Mahsa Amini.
The Austrian police removed them.
The 22-year-old Amini was arrested about two weeks ago by the Iranian "Morality Police", claiming that she did not wear the hijab on her head, as all women in Iran are obliged to do. On her way to the "re-education camp" she was beaten, lost consciousness and died.
For two weeks now, all over Iran, crowds have been demonstrating against the regime, in what has already been dubbed the "hijab riots".
Women have been photographed burning their hijabs and cutting their hair first, in protest of the strict laws of Islam.
The police are using firearms to try and disperse the demonstrations, and according to various testimonies, 76 people have already been killed in the riots, which do not stop, until yesterday.
Iran national football team.
The extremist regime does not neglect any area of ​​the country, photo: Reuters
The regime is aware of the sensitivity that exists around the national team, especially when in less than two months it will play in the World Cup against England, Wales and the hated USA, the one known in Tehran as "the great devil". The problem is that some of the national team players were not afraid to express their strong opinion against the regime and in favor of the demonstrations.
The step up was Sardar Azmon, the senior striker, who has been playing for the German Bayer Leverkusen for the past two years.
In a post he published, he wrote: "Restrictions are imposed on us when we are in the national team, but I can't stand it anymore! I am not afraid that I will be expelled from the team. Because it will not erase what happened from our consciousness. Shame on you! You kill easily. For the life of Iranian women!"
The problem of the heads of the Iranian Federation, who receive instructions from the heads of the regime, that Zazmon is not the only one.
Aztullahi also wrote a post supporting the protesters.
Many of the players on the roster added black ribbons to their profile pictures.
The regime is having difficulty stopping the wave of demonstrations and riots, since it is not an organized protest, with a political body or leader behind it.
And that is why media outlets that support the regime point to the star of the past Ali Karimi as the "leader of the rebellion", the one inciting the Iranian people.
Sardar Azmon.
Will continue to wear the national uniform of Iran?, Photo: AFP
43-year-old Ali Karimi was previously called "the Maradona of Iran".
He scored 38 goals in 127 games for the national team, where he served as captain for many years.
During his glorious career he played for Bayern Munich, with whom he won the double in 2006.
Although he retired eight years ago, Karimi is still a revered figure in Iran, with 12 million followers on Instagram.
In recent years he has lived in Dubai, from where he is not afraid to express his opinion.
In a post on Instagram, he addressed the army and wrote: "Don't let the blood of innocents be spilled."
On Twitter, where he has almost half a million followers, he tweeted: "Don't be afraid of strong women. Maybe the day will come and they will be your only army."
In the last two weeks, Karimi published dozens of posts in which he exposed the brutality of the police and also published instructions on how to circumvent the internet restrictions imposed by the state on citizens.
Karimi became an enemy of the regime, and the leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei even attacked him in one of his last speeches and accused him of treason.
In practice, the criticism against Karimi only increased his popularity.
Within a week he gained another two million followers.
The last step of the regime was the confiscation of his private assets in Tehran, including his luxurious villa.
The feeling is that this is only the beginning, and the climax still awaits us in Iran's games in the World Cup in Qatar.
Mark the 21st of November in the diary.
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