Iranian American soccer fans are torn between pride and protest as the World Cup nears

NEW YORK: (Apr 9) With Iran qualifying for the World Cup, Arad Ershad had visions of splurging on flights and tickets to attend one of the team’s upcoming first-round matches in Los Angeles.

That changed when Ershad, a New York graduate student who grew up in Tehran, saw how many of the players he had adored since childhood failed to speak out following its theocratic leadership’s deadly crackdown on protesters in January.

“It feels so bad that I do not want them to succeed. They were like my icons, my legends,” he lamented during a recent pickup soccer game on Long Island. “I know playing a World Cup is the biggest thing a soccer player can achieve in his life, but how can you just be silent?”