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Report: USMNT to face Iran in friendly match

IranNationalTeam1-Lebanon (Getty)

By DAN KARELL

For only the third time ever, the U.S. Men’s National Team could be taking on Iran in an international friendly match.

According to a report in Italian publication Gazzetta Dello Sport, the two nation’s soccer associations have agreed to take part in a four team tournament, that will reportedly also involve a country from Europe and from South America. The time and date of the tournament has yet to be determined.

U.S. Soccer has yet to make an official announcement on the friendly match.

“We received approval from the (U.S. Soccer Federation) for a tournament that will involve both national teams,” Iranian FA president Ali Kafashian said to Gazzetta.

While the USA and Iran continued to be locked in long-term political tensions since the overthrow of the U.S. supported Shah in 1979 and the hostage crisis that followed, the two countries’ soccer teams have met on the field twice previously. Iran triumphed over the USA in the 1998 World Cup by a score of 2-1, and the teams drew, 1-1, in a rematch two years later at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

Back in 2009, U.S. Soccer reportedly tried to set up a friendly match against Iran in the capital Tehran ahead of the 2010 World Cup, but was unsuccessful.

Both Iran and the USA have already secured qualification to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Nothing has been announced officially on the reported friendly.

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What do you think of this report? Do you see this match happening? Would you be interested in playing Iran or should the USSF avoid the match due to the political implications?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Get Bob Bradley’s Egypt in there, bring the Russians, call up Robbie Rogers and we’ll solve all the world’s problems in one go. I wonder how John Boehner is on set pieces?

    I kid I kid.

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  2. say what you will behind the politics of it, but Iran will be at the World Cup. not a terrible idea to play them. i’m interested to see who they get for the other two teams, as well as the rest of the details regarding this tournament.

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    • I wonder football is a powerful medium to a means. the first sport truly helps the globalization effort to a realization

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  3. It’s a great idea for both teams marketing wise. With recent events, such as the phone call, making people pay attention to the whole Iran – US drama, both country soccer Feds are taking advantage of that.

    I know I’ll see it in the TODAY show if the game happens. Good timing.

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  4. I’m pumped. I have a great respect for the people and culture of Iran and I hope that this can at least make us friendlier towards each other.

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    • I bet 90 minutes of soccer will fix everything. I forsee their leader deciding America isn’t so bad after we bash their brains in…you have to be insane or an Iranian-American to think this is a good idea.

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      • So your saying you’re not going to watch the game?

        The more US games the better. Plus a tournament style 6-8 months before the WC, that’s awesome.

      • Or maybe I’m a rational person who doesn’t wish for perpetual conflict.
        I didn’t say it would fix anything, but what is the risk? How could this make our relationship worse? How could this give Iran an upperhand in any way? If you want to think of this only as a government jab then go for it, but please explain your rationale instead of just name calling.

        And who says we will bash their brains in? They have beat us in our recent matchups, we don’t know where the game will be, and dropping a contest 3-1 against Costa Rica doesn’t exactly make us a powerhouse.

      • Because the Iranians don’t understand how sports and sports competitions work.

        Jeez, dude. I bet the Iranians want to get an opportunity to play with a team that’s a bit higher up on the FIFA rankings, no matter where they come from, just like most teams who want to get better.

  5. Saw Ricardo Clark yesterday at the store and could only think about his giveaway against Ghana in SA. That game still pisses me off.

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      • And Holden was available… this was immediately before his breakout season with Bolton in midfield.

      • No one could have known just how bad he’d be though. And to Bradley’s credit, he removed him in the first half, which you never see for a tactical sub.

      • Agreed, only a year earlier, Clark was an effective destroyer who helped keep Spain from bouncing back in the Con. Fed. cup.

  6. In a perfect world, soccer brings people together. Unfortunately, this is the real world and soccer has as much of a chance to make things worse. Either way, we’d potentially face them at the World Cup so this is a great opportunity to test our boys against a fellow WC team; especially if part of the tournament is down in Brazil. Get acclimated now!

    Whether we play Iran, North Korea, Syria, Egypt, etc., all the politics should be removed the moment the whistle starts. Don’t turn soccer players into heroes, victims, saviors, spies, peacemakers, etc.

    Though I’d love a “Tournament of Peace” between Iran, us, Russia, and Israel. Talk about movie-in-the-making… Disney would send script writers.

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    • I don’t think we are playing an Asian nation at the World Cup. The way the pots look to be shaking out, the four CONCACAF teams (or 3 plus New Zealand) will probably be in a pot with the 4 Asian teams (Jordan will NOT beat the 5th place South American team in a playoff). The 3 non-seeded South American teams will be in with the 5 African teams. That will leave the US playing against a seeded team, one of the 8 non-seeded European teams, and a team from South America or Africa. Not set in stone, but the numbers make too much sense to do it any other way if the seeds go the way they are looking to now.

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      • USSF should call up Johnny B for this game just to wind up the Iranians.

        Ironic they are wearing uniforms and cleats made from an infidel country.

        Is the Iron Sheik going to be there with his Iran #1, Russia #1, USA (spits) ?

      • That would be horrible. Any one deserves merit to be called up that happens to be Jewish so be it though. Felihaber is a little down in the depth chart but has been playing well

  7. Hmm, not much details here. Is it in 2014? Or after the WC? I know the January camp has already been decided on between LA and Brasil. Maybe it’s going to happen in Brasil for the January Camp.

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  8. Good chance they will back out at the last hour just to snub us. Their official policy is the USA is the Great Satan. Why would we want to play them?

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    • all we did was overthrow their elected prime minister and installed a brutal Shah for purposes completely separate of anything they themselves did or were doing

      they are recognizing our greatness, btw

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      • Under the Prime Minister Iran’s oil industry was nationalized which would have actually put some of the money and benefits back into the poor Iranian population. Obviously us imperialist westerners couldn’t have that so we got rid of their democratically elected leader. If we had not done that, who knows if Iran would be the pain it is today. Not the worst thing the USA has ever done or even the worst coup (Chile led to more people being tortured and killed because of US involvement), but it’s up there.

      • I hope it’s Venezuela and Russia. The “why can’t we all get along? It’s football y’all” tour

      • Yes, but he also gained power shortly after his predecessor was assassinated in murky circumstances. And he also suspended parliament indefinitely and declared 18 months of emergency rule. And his decision to nationalize the oil industry involved a massive seizure of assets not belonging to Iran or any Iranian (see: theft). And that the overthrow involved the already existing Shah taking power.

        It was VERY wrong of us to do what we did, but a bit more complicated than you make it sound. When their elected prime minister is elected after the predecessor is assassinated and then quickly dissolves parliament and suspends elections, that seems questionable, no?

      • Herb. That’s the name of my tea partist step uncle from Virginia.

      • Ron is done. Rand won’t ever get his due either. Republicans will make sure of that

    • Good chance we will back out at the last hour just to snub us. Our official policy is the Iran is the Axis of Evil. Why would they want to play us?

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    • Eh…they showed up in 2000 to play the USA in a friendly…

      in LOS ANGELES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      I’m sure they thought of the USA as the Great Satan back then.

      I never saw so many Mercedes Benz in a parking lot.

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  9. US should play African teams! We had very harsh experience with Ghana for the two previous WC. I’m surprised that JK is not looking for it.

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    • I dont think so. The US does not mix politics with sports, other than that one awful guy who boycotted the 1980 olympics. Iran has no history of sports. Between those two, I think this is just good marketing by both teams. US shows it keeps sports and politics separate. Iran shows it can compete with the US in a sport.

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      • Hey rickety have you ever paid attention to every other country on earth and see how their goverment gets involved with their olympic teams while ours does not.

      • Do you believe in miracles?

        Somehow, if the Swedes instead of the Soviets were viewed as the best hockey team in the world, and our college all-stars beat them, I don’t see that going down as one of the greatest sports moments ever.

  10. My guess is this tournament will take the place of the send off series the US has done before most World Cups, but I wonder if plans could change if we ended up in the same WC group.

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    • Teams could train here, and then you could play the tournament or just the last games in Florida, travel to Brazil from there.

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    • I hope not. The US should wait for the draw and play opponents that play a similar style to each of the other teams in their group for the sendoff series.

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  11. My guess is that it will be in late May 2014 in preparation for the WC. With US and IRAN both qualified, they will probably look to add two more qualified countries after the draw.

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  12. interesting.. not sure when they could fit in a three game series, it would have to be in the summer before the gold cup. glad to see the iran fixture reset.

    the reports out of italy.. would italy be the host or the european team?

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  13. It would be something to give the January camp more meaning that just running around in circles to build fitness. A Scandinavian squad based on domestic players and the same from a country like Colombia, Venezuela, or Bolivia for example might be possible. Playing 3 games would simulate group play at the World Cup.

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  14. Play the match. Nixon sent ping pong teams to China, sports can build bridges. Still can’t help wonder if that proposed 2010 match was some part of a cover for spy operations though, remember how there was a run there where we’d go play in Central America and suddenly there would be an uprising shortly after we left? Was Honduras or Costa Rica last time?

    Oh well, play the match, would be a good learning experience as we could face them in the World Cup.

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      • No you have it backwards. The uprising started before the match. I believe the State Department had even issued an advisory about traveling to Honduras. And extra security was ordered for the US MNT.

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