"I can no longer suffer and remain silent. If in the end the punishment I receive is expulsion from the national team, it is a small price to pay even for a piece of hair of one Iranian woman. Shame on you for killing people so easily, long live the women of Iran."
These words were written by the striker of the Iranian team and the German Berkusen - Sardar Azmon - in a brave and inspiring post that he put up at the end of September, this in light of the outbreak of riots in his country, against the background of the death of Mahsa Amini by the regime's 'morality police', riots that continue to this day and are reported to have spread throughout The world took the lives of about 500 people, about 50 of them young.
This post that Azmon made is an important key point among quite a few citizens in Iran and has given strength to quite a few other athletes to raise their heads against the Ayatollah regime that has taken over the country since the revolution in 1979.
This post instantly turned the 27-year-old player into the symbol of the citizens, who for years have been expecting their great athletes, especially those who don't play in the local league, to open their mouths in light of corruption, discrimination against women, and more.
Except for the post he uploaded, which was also accompanied by changing his profile picture to black, Azmon scored in a friendly match against Senegal and did not celebrate, in what would have seemed like the end of his career in the national team.
In the days before the final squad for Qatar was announced, it was quite clear that he would not be called up by coach Carlos Kirosh for the games, but when the squad was announced, Azmon was in, which surprised many. "He is a huge role model, now it is up to people to welcome him and accompany him in this difficult situation ", said Gerardo Siouana coach of Berkusen who has already left his position.
Azmon celebrates with Kirosh the victory over Wales, photo: Reuters
It should be noted that Azmon established his status in recent years also as a football star after spending most of his years in Russia so far in his career.
He started his career in Rubin Kazan, from there he moved to Rostov, returned to Kazan again and then came to the luxury club Zenit St. Petersburg, in media he scored 62 goals and assisted 23 more times in 104 games, until he was acquired by Leverkusen. In the team uniform he has tremendous statistics With 41 goals in 62 games, but all this would have seemed like something that would not really move anyone in determining the squad, after he dared to go against the regime in the country, but reality went in his favor.
Before leaving for Qatar, the Iranian players met with the heads of state, they were seen smiling, which provoked severe criticism from the citizens.
Alireza Jahanbash, a Feyenoord player and Iran's second captain, said after that meeting: "We must respect the team, whatever happens, we are here to do our duty, which is to play" and was accused of cowardice.
"Most Iranians, regardless of their interest in football, hope that the national team loses all three of their games," said sports journalist Sina Saimian, "I am so disappointed, the lack of common sense, lack of empathy and insensitivity in these pictures is truly disheartening," he added.
"I and many others call it the national team of the Islamic Republic and not the national team of the Iranian people," a fan responded to him on Twitter.
Azmon against Pickford in the match against England.
Great statistics in the national team, photo: AFP
The threats continue
All those bad feelings changed last week.
The act of someone who was called "the Iranian Messi" in his youth set a precedent for what happened before the game against England, when the national team's players decided not to sing the anthem before they were defeated 6:2 by the Three Lions team and received compliments. Also, thousands of Iranians in the stands raised flags for rights Women with Amini's name and picture when the captain Ahsan Hajsafi added, who said after the game: "The conditions in our country are not satisfactory, the people are not satisfied, we are here, but that does not mean that we should not be their voice." Suddenly, Azmon seems to have won in the struggle, that suddenly the rest of his friends got the courage that the citizens aspired to. Suddenly the Iranian people felt that their voice was heard.
And in a telenovela like a telenovela, there is no end to developments.
Against Wales, probably after the government's intervention and threats to the players' families, the team was already singing the anthem, or rather muttering it, with the players looking upset.
Iran's fans cried in the stands, some whistled and in the end, the game ended with a great victory over the British (0:2) which gave them the opportunity to advance to the round of 16 today.
These days, Iran is a divided country.
On the one hand, thousands of her fans wave flags with the call to "freedom", while others wave flags with the official name of the Islamic Republic.
It is very possible that a victory over the USA could finally bring about internal peace, at least for a short time.
Winner ratio for an Iran victory 3.75, for a draw 3.15 and for a USA victory 1.90
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