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Meanwhile, a historic soccer match is happening today as Iran plays New Zealand in Los Angeles. This will be the first time in the World Cup's almost century-old history that a host country will welcome a team from a country it is at war with. In the run-up to the tournament, Iran was forced to move its training camp from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico. NPR's Eyder Peralta sends us this report.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORN BEEPING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Woo.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Woo.
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: The Marriott in Tijuana is surrounded by a chain-link fence. The only one staying there are members of Iran's national team. Fausto Vadillo, who is 10 years old, presses his face against the fence.
FAUSTO VADILLO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: He's never seen a World Cup player in his life. Now he was here hugging his Panini sticker book.
FAUSTO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: One autograph, he says, is all he needs. Last month, the U.S. said it didn't want Iranian players training on its soil. So the Mexican president said her nation would host, and the local soccer team in Tijuana, the Xolos, offered their stadium as a training ground. Ever since the team arrived, people have gathered to see the players leave the hotel for practice.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE #1: (Chanting) Iran. Iran. Iran. Iran. Iran.
PERALTA: Jose Reyes, who came with his kid, says the geopolitics of this escapes him.
JOSE REYES: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "What the U.S. did was disrespectful," he says.
REYES: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "The World Cup unites borders, unites humanity."
REYES: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "Right now, there is no war," he says. "We're just united to watch the games."
Victor Clark Alfaro, a professor who studies U.S.-Mexico relations at San Diego State University, says it's not as simple as that.
VICTOR CLARK ALFARO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: He says part of the reason Mexico welcomed Iran was to send a message of sovereignty to the United States. But Clark (ph) says this is also a complicated moment to send that kind of message. It's a moment where President Trump has been threatening military action against Mexico, and it's a moment when the U.S. and Mexico are deep into negotiations to renew a North American free trade agreement.
ALFARO: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "The big question," he says, "is whether this overture to Iran will inflame tensions between the U.S. and Mexico." To Clark, it's not a risk Mexico should be taking.
(SOUNDBITE OF WHISTLE BLOWING)
PERALTA: But across Tijuana, no one seems too worried about any American backlash. Kids playing football worry that they'll lose the team quickly because, well, Iran is not Spain, and they may not even make it past the group stage.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Yelling in Spanish).
(SOUNDBITE OF WHISTLE BLOWING)
PERALTA: And a short distance away on the bridge that leads to San Diego, merchants are simply busy selling the jerseys of the Mexican national team.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIOLIN PLAYING)
PERALTA: No one was selling the Iranian one, but as I ask around, Francisco Gutierrez shouts, we are all Iranians.
FRANCISCO GUTIERREZ: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "We Mexicans always go for the underdog."
GUTIERREZ: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "It's about our history," he says. After the Mexican American War, Mexico lost half its territory to the U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE #2: (Chanting in Spanish).
PERALTA: Back at the hotel, the crowd grows. There's a group of Australians who came for the World Cup. There are a couple of Iranian Americans who came from San Diego and Fausto, the 10-year-old clinging to the chain-link fence. And suddenly, the Iranian team comes out of the hotel.
(CROSSTALK)
PERALTA: Mehdi Taremi, the team star who once played for Inter Milan, Alireza Beiranvand, the goalkeeper.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Woo.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Oh, my God.
(CROSSTALK)
PERALTA: Fausto doesn't get one autograph - he gets three, and he can't stop smiling. Eyder Peralta, NPR News, Tijuana, Mexico.
(SOUNDBITE OF AMIE BLU SONG, "EVERYTHING ABOUT HER") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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