Thursday, June 11, 2009

Football Diplomacy

More football, less Holocaust denial


The U.S. and China had ping pong diplomacy in the 1970s, could the U.S. and Iran now have a little bit of football diplomacy? That might be part of the logic behind preliminary discussions between U.S. Soccer and their Iranian counterparts to hold a friendly in Tehran in late 2010 or 2011.

In fact, a national team friendly would be the second football-related gesture aimed to bring the two nations closer. In March, the Guardian reported that Persepolis and Esteghlal, the two largest Iranian club teams, might come on a tour of the U.S.

As always, it's nice to see two countries trying to put aside their differences on the football pitch.

And, if you’ve been watching or reading the news lately, you know that Iran is holding elections tomorrow and there is a decent chance that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be unseated. This follows President Obama's historic speech to the Muslim world in Cairo. Stay tuned for this developing story.

/newspeak

2 comments:

EbullientFatalist said...

Somehow this story will become anti-Obama in a version of:

"Obama imports dirty Iranian foot-sport!"

or:

"Obama offers soccer team as hostages to Tehran"

BackBergtt said...

When you're looking at this post on a phone, those badges look an awful lot like the LFC badge, I was terrified.