Diplomatically put, there is a lot going on in the world right now outside of football and sport altogether. Due to the ongoing conflict the United States currently has with Iran, the Iran national team has provisionally withdrawn from this summer’s World Cup, at least as far as participating in the United States, though there could be a possibility that Mexico hosts all of their group stage matches. In that regard, nothing is final as of this point, but it’s impossible to ignore the impact that lingering
tensions with recent world happenings are having on fans wanting to support their nations at the World Cup abroad.
Even without the current war with Iran, there were massive concerns ahead of Iran’s group stage match in Seatle, Washington vs. Egypt the same weekend that the city is planning on hosting a pride weekend. While the football national teams and their fans are not direct representatives of their nation’s governments and/or regimes, there’s already been cause for concern that the two nations’ conservative views on homosexuality could cause problems the weekend of the scheduled match.
Nonetheless, from a sporting perspective, there is a spectacle slated to occur on the world stage in what’s a new-look, expanded field that the World Cup has never seen before. There could be Cinderella stories, severe upsets, usual suspects in the latter rounds, and from the average football fans perspective, more matches overall.
For German national team manager Julian Nagelsmann, who’ll be heading to his first ever World Cup, the sporting aspect is what his sole focus is going to be on, even though he’s well aware of the current nature of the political atmosphere between the United States and the rest of the World. “You can’t completely ignore the things that are happening in the world. Of course, as a private individual, I have opinions and certain values and norms. But in my position, where I’m responsible for the football, I’m naturally looking forward to the sporting event. I’ve never participated in a World Cup before; it’s the biggest tournament there is. As national team coach, I’m focusing on the sporting side. We’re trying to play a good tournament and give those who are still skeptical a positive impression. That’s my focus, to play a good tournament,” the former Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and Hoffenheim manager explained his a press conference where he announced his squad for the upcoming pair of friendlies against Switzerland and Ghana (via @iMiaSanMia).
Of course, the buildup to the 2018 World Cup in Russia was laden with controversy with the German national team that was later blamed for being a bit too much of a distraction in the team after they crashed out of the tournament in the group stages. When both Mesut Özil and İlkay Gündoğan pledged their support for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a photo taken together in London, there was a great deal of backlash from both the DFB and the German government.
Ahead of the tournament starting, then national team manager Joachim Löw had said the controversy was “absolutely no problem at all within the team” after the pair of players had approached Löw and the DFB hierarchy to explain their actions. However, that didn’t put a pause to the outside noise amongst the German press and punditry both in the buildup to, and during the tournament itself. Germany’s poor performances didn’t help the optics of the situation whatsoever and under Nagelsmann, there seems to be far more harmony amongst the squad and a level of togetherness that has shown in their strong qualifying campaign.
