Commentator/Natalie: Messi running inside. Back out it goes. Lionel Messi. Lo Messi. FIRST CAREER WORLD CUP HAT-TICK TIES THE ALLTIME GOALCORING RECORD. From the New York Times, I'm Natalie Kitroof. This is the Daily.

Commentator: AND THERE IT IS. EARLING HARDEN MEETS THE WORLD CUP. THE WORLD CUP MEETS STERLING HOLLANDS.

Natalie: Two weeks into the World Cup, the most watched sports event on the planet has already broken records.

Commentator: BRILLIANT FROM MBAPPE. BRILLIANT. FRANCE LEAD. Magical from

Natalie: hitting its highest attendance ever and generating the most goals scored in history. But one of the biggest stories of the tournament is happening off the field.

International Visitor: Feel like I've been lied to my entire life about America. Like I'm in Florida. This beach is insane. Like just as good as Australian beaches.

Natalie: Is a wave of international visitors encounter an America they'd never seen up close.

International Visitor: of America. Texas.

International Visitor: Texas is good. Everything is big.

International Visitor/Natalie: Ranch. I love ranch. I taste it here and it's delicious. And I take two bottles with home. and Americans encounter them and open their arms to the world's soccer fans.

International Visitor: It's hard to sit there and think Americans are bad because every single person I've met that's American has been unbelievable.

Natalie: Today, my colleague Tar Pa explains the magic and the complexity of this moment and daily producer Anna Foley talks to two fans in the middle of it. It's Monday, June 29th. Tar, welcome back to the daily. It's lovely to have you.

Tariq: Lovely to be back with you.

Natalie: So, I have been watching the World Cup. It has been incredible the competition itself, but also the amazing scenes that we have seen from fans from all over the world colliding with each other. And this is the thing that you told us would happen when you were last on the show. There is always this anticipation and anxiety that leads up to the World Cup and then the games begin and it becomes this human experiment of what happens when you bring the entire world together around a sport.

Tariq: It does. And tournament after tournament, it gives us this brief moment of uplift, of joy, of people coming together. And we're seeing it in places big and small here in the United States. And I'm so pleased that people in this part of the world are able to experience this. And we should say this wasn't perhaps expected because there was a lot of angst around some of the geopolitical tension that was hanging over this. I mean, one of the host countries in this case, the United States, is literally in the middle of a war right now. And the US has even had beef with the co-hosts, Mexico and Canada. One of them Trump has threatened to bomb and the other he's threatened to turn into the 51st state. So, this wasn't straightforward.

Tariq: You're right. This wasn't straightforward at all. America's posture to the world has been one which is kind of antithetical to a tournament that is supposed to bring the world together and bring the world to it. This was a country that was talking about building walls, reducing immigration, sending people out and for fans who were trying to come here, getting visas was proving very difficult. Then there was the question of ICE enforcement at the tournament. The possibility of that even even on the cusp of the tournament, we had the situation with the referee from Somalia, a FIFA referee, someone on the list to work at this tournament,

Tariq: sent back to Turkey where he flew from. And that does give you a sense of dread if you are not someone who is sure they're going to be able to get into this country. But tournament starts and we've seen wonderful images. We've heard wonderful songs. We've all heard anecdotes of things that only the World Cup can bring. It is what happens when the world comes together.

Natalie/Tariq: And so Tar, despite the baggage, the good feelings began almost immediately. So tell us how that happened. Like what actually shifted? What shifted the people? It starts with these teams, 48 teams in the biggest World Cup ever. And they have to choose base camps where the team will be staying between their matches in these enormous stadiums in these cities. And where they tend to go are certainly not big cities. And I'll give you some examples. Spain going to Chattanooga,

Natalie: right?

Tariq: And there is a phenomenon there called Lamine watching

Tariq: so Lamin Yamal is one of the most famous athletes in the world. He is going to be the next massive superstar of De Messi and Ronaldo.

Tariq: And here we are seeing him go to a Walmart Then we have Erling Harland who also has a claim to be one of the most famous people in the world.

Erling Haaland: I've been eating healthy since I came to the US and now enjoy some American food.

Tariq: He's with Norway in Greensboro.

Natalie: How cool is it to have Norway in Greensboro, North Carolina?

Tariq/Local Resident: It's awesome. It's epic. But the best example of the one that is almost the cutest is what happened when the Algerian team arrived in Lawrence, Kansas. They prepared by getting the marching band of the University of Kansas to learn the national anthem of Algeria. I want to say thank you to team Algeria for choosing our hometown Lawrence, Kansas to come here and uh so welcome.

Natalie: This I believe it's a college town. Would never have had anything approaching this in terms of a global event.

Algerian Fan: So far everybody here has been very friendly and very welcoming and I'm really glad Algeria is going to be here. and one two three Viva Alier.

Tariq/Local Resident: You see local people dressed in the Algeria jerseys. They are all rooting for this Algerian team. So I I got I love to support them, you know, especially since they're in Lawrence, you know, like I'll support them.

Natalie: Right. Okay. So you start to have this mutual excitement bubbling up on both sides, the teams and the Americans that are receiving them. And then there's a next wave that comes, right, when the fans of these teams begin to arrive. Talk to me about that.

Tariq: Now, this is my favorite part. This is where fans from every corner of our world arrive full of hope, full of cheer, and just ready to have fun meeting each other and showing their colors. They're showing their songs. And we've seen that. We've seen images of

Tariq: the famous or now famous Norwegian Viking road taking over New York and New Jersey, including an escalator. where you have Norwegian fans sitting down and rowing as it takes them into the subway system.

Natalie: Yeah.

Tariq: There are buses that have been organized by the city of Dallas to take fans to various points of interest.

Norwegian Fan/Tariq: In Norway, we have nothing like this. This is too much. I love it. But the one that's proved more popular than most has been the trip to Bies.

Fan: You're never going to believe this, guys. This is a gas station. This goes on for miles and miles and miles.

Natalie: Got to get to Bies. I agree with that strategy.

Tariq: And the guys behind the counter like they do a sing song. What is this place? I can stay in here forever. We've also had all of these stories of fans, whether they're French, Japanese, or from anywhere else, trying American food and actually liking it.

Fan: Hot French fries in a chocolate milkshake. That shouldn't work, but that's actually really good.

Tariq: Texas barbecue seems to be a big hit at the moment.

Fan: Hey, that's a short

Fan: I love it.

Tariq: The Philly cheese steak,

Natalie: a national delicacy. Uh yeah, a national delicacy.

Fan: I love I love I love beef. I love cheese. You know, it's perfect combination.

Tariq: And then Scotland. What can we say about the Tartan Army? The name the Scottish fans are best known by.

Reporter: What's been the most Bostononian thing you've seen or witnessed?

Scottish Fan/Tariq: It's got to be Samuel Adams. The beer. Couple of guys don't like it, but I think it's quite nice. They hadn't been to the World Cup since 1998,

Natalie: right?

Natalie: And they really have made up for lost time, haven't they?

Scottish Fan/Local Resident: The Bostononians are something special. Honestly,

Tariq: the people of Boston will never forget the days the Tartan army invaded their city and obviously drank the city dry, but all in good cheer. We went from regular Boston to all of a sudden party

Bostonian: Gentlemen, you only got to know two words. Yankees suck.

Tariq: The Scots making up for lost time is going to be one of the stories of the World Cup.

Natalie: Scotland did unfortunately just officially get kicked out of the World Cup this past weekend, but they clearly left an impression. I mean, it was so pronounced this love story between these Scottish fans and the Bostononians that received them that I think the Boston Globe literally dedicated a full page in the newspaper just thanking them for visiting.

Tariq: They did indeed. And now the Scots have a tradition for this. The way the fan culture worked is be loud, be fun, drink all of the beer, but leave the people happy you were there. This was a culture that was created almost as an opposition to the hooliganism that was around English football and English fans in the 80s and '9s.

Natalie: I had no idea. That's so interesting.

Tariq: And it's not just the Scots. You can't manufacture some of these meetings. They are chance meetings. And we're seeing this in a way that perhaps we were not expecting because of the sensation or the feeling around the US,

Natalie: right? And so these international fans, they're being exposed to parts of America that they may never have seen otherwise. And for Americans, you do see people trying to show their most open selves.

Tariq: I think there's also the inquisitiveness. People want to know about each other and there's a pride as well. Say look this is our town. This is who we are and we want to show our best face. It also feels significant that this is happening at the same time that the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary and some of those official celebrations have become very tied to President Trump and they've become contentious in some cases for that reason. And then at the same time, you have this other celebration that's happening all across the country that also feels like it's saying something important about the United States and its identity.

Tariq: Yeah. It tells us that this country is a patchwork of people and it was built on everybody. This is an immigrant nation. The World Cup has shown it to be so. Not only are the fans coming from overseas to support their teams, the entire diaspora of these teams is also behind them.

Tariq: I met a guy who was Jordanian.

Tariq: And what's your name, sir?

Jordanian Fan: My name is Faruk or Fred.

Tariq: This man called Farooq.

Farouk: I moved to the state 46 years ago.

Tariq: 46 years ago.

Farouk: Yes. It's it's a split love. I love America more than anything.

Tariq/Farouk: And he just could not tell me how much he loved America. For me, it's the one that gave me the opportunity. It gives me everything. My kids, I have three boys and a girl. They're all successful.

Tariq: He was beaming about what America gave to him.

Farouk: But Jordan, it's my love.

Tariq: But he also said, "I love Jordan."

Tariq: How do you How do you feel?

Farouk: Oh my god. This is the proudest moment of my life.

Tariq: Really?

Farouk: For a small nation of ours, you cannot believe how proud we are. I am so proud that my country has made the World Cup.

Farouk: I came to the first game and I'm in second game then I'm going to go watch.

Tariq: He was off to Dallas next to see them against Lionel Messi

Farouk: every day of the week. God bless America. God bless everything about this place. And God bless my nation Jordan.

Tariq: Thank you for bless.

Tariq: So you can have that duality. It's also what it's shown. You can be two things. You don't have to lash yourself to one flag or to the mast of one idea,

Natalie: right? And in many ways, this is kind of the diaspora world cup.

Natalie: Off the field and on the field, the word diaspora has been said over and over about this World Cup. But with that comes a degree of complexity. It is not a seamless thing. This can sometimes be difficult. just talk about that side of things. What exactly you mean by that?

Tariq: The most obvious case has to be that of Iran. This is a team I've been following now for months since the start of the war. This team has faced hardships unlike any other. This is the first time a team participating at the World Cup has been in conflict, military conflict with a host nation.

Natalie: Right. that has struck us here too. I mean the complications around the Iran team has been this major story of the World Cup for many reasons, right?

Tariq: Yeah. And the fans have had their own kind of hardships because of the feeling towards the government in Iran, the love of country in that context

Tariq/Natalie: and the love of team. Do we support this team? Who does this team represent? and it has split the Iranian community somewhat. I think most Iranians remain firmly supportive of the team on the field, but I've spoken to so many people who are trying to find ways to support the team, but also in a way protest or find a way of opposing the government back home. You're saying this really big Iranian community in the United States is itself in conflict over how to relate to their own team, right? Because they have such a conflicted relationship to their government. And the idea of how to support them is presenting all of these conundrums for these people.

Tariq: It does. On the most extreme edge of this are people who simply will not support the team and say this is a propaganda tool of the government in Thran. This is not the Iranian team. But it's the majority in the middle. They're the ones I think that are finding it the hardest because they do love this team. They do love their country as well. So how do you support them? So we're almost seeing kind of the internal divisions of the Iranian opposition, Iranian politics writ large around the outskirts of a World Cup stadium in Los Angeles,

Natalie: right? You're seeing this internal struggle of this diaspora play out live in front of us in the stadiums, outside them. this internal debate inside of a community over how to relate to their team. It's all there in public. It

Tariq: it's it's all there in public and it's all in the face of those players. So when the Iranian national anthem plays, you hear widespread booing jeering across the stadium. But when the team then takes to the field, it's like a home game. What we are seeing in real time is a mashup of nationalism, of identity, of patriotism, of a sense of people trying to work out who they are, what they want, and what their future holds all around this international soccer tournament.

Natalie: Well, Tar, thank you so much for being here.

Natalie: Nice to be with you again. We'll be right back. As we said before the break, the team in arguably the most complicated place in this World Cup is Iran. The team is playing in a host country that's in open conflict with theirs. And now the whole world's watching as this fragile ceasefire gets tested again and again. One of our shows producers, Anna Foley, spent time with a couple of lifelong fans of the Iranian team, just hours before Iran played their first game. They talked about what all this is like this year and the complex business of

Anna Foley: Is there anything you miss from Iran? Of course,

Anna Foley/Farhad: this is Farhad. Tell me something.

Farhad: Okay. Um, people, the smell of land, people very hospitable, kind, caring, full of love. I've been a third of my life over there and two3 here. Believe it or not, I remember the first one/3.

Farhad: To me, here time flies extremely fast. It's just like

Anna Foley: Farad came to the US from Iran 47 years ago.

Anna Foley: Back then, he'd been trying to get a visa for years.

Farhad: For 5 years, I tried, nothing happened,

Farhad: but nothing seemed to work.

Anna Foley: This was right before the Iranian revolution. A lot of other people were trying to get visas around the same time. One day he showed up at the embassy.

Farhad: The whole street completely filled with people. And so

Anna Foley: there were thousands of people there. Chances seemed slim he was going to be able to get his paperwork. But then he heard a man call his name.

Farhad: And I was sort of surprised. No microphone, no speaker or nothing. He just yelled it and I happened to be right there. So he handed me my passport and I didn't even know what that meant. I said, "Can you tell me what this is?" With broken English, of course. And he said, "You got visa?" I said, "I

Anna Foley: I could not logically reason it how this thing worked out. Farhud says he's replayed that moment every day he's lived in America which it's been a while. He got here in 1979, settled down in Ohio, got married, had kids.

Farhad: I'm a lifelong soccer fan, World Cup fan, and

Anna Foley: one of whom is Kevin.

Kevin: So, we had this videotape. It was like the 50 greatest World Cup goals. And

Anna Foley: Kevin's lifelong obsession with soccer started at home with his dad and an old VHS tape of World Cup goals.

Kevin: That's how I discovered World Cup and goals and nation.

Anna Foley: Kevin couldn't get enough.

Anna Foley: One VHS tape turned into boxes of tape games in the living room. Soon Kevin was playing soccer in a neighborhood league and Farhod was taking him to meet American players.

Farhad: Oh, Brad Fredel, Brian McBride, Thomas Douly.

Anna Foley/Kevin: Kevin became a real student of the game. continued in the second half. Like the US I think hit the post like four times in that game.

Anna Foley: Even now he can recite what happened in one of his favorite games from when he was 11.

Kevin: Obsessed with these. I've rewatched all the old US games.

Farhad: Kevin has tremendous amount of knowledge. I can't. It's like encyclopedia of soccer honestly.

Kevin: Yeah.

Anna Foley: Why did you love soccer so much? What drew you in, do you think?

Kevin/Anna Foley: I think a big part of it is the connection with my family. fact that my dad loved it. It's it's one of the major ways that I have been able to connect with my past and my heritage, my Iranian side. Uh in particular, this is all of course a classic. Father and son watch a sport, feel closer.

Kevin/Anna Foley: And so then I think I me and my mom and my sister came home from somewhere and my dad said, "I have the biggest soccer news for you." And I think it took me two guesses, but I realized it was that Iran had qualified for the World Cup. So that's a moment that I'll always remember. And then

Anna Foley: Iran actually played the US in that World Cup. The first time ever. And for Kevin, it was the first time his two identities were pitted against each other in the sport he loved.

Kevin: We went to um you know this restaurant. There was a lot of US fans and then it's like our little table with the Iranian section and the rest is like USA. But I also am cheering for both teams. So yeah, that those are always sort of interesting situations when like you have two teams that you

Anna Foley: Iran won that game 2 to1. What did Iran's victory back then feel like for you? Like was it complicated to watch Iran win over the US?

Farhad: No, it was uh at least for my self-satisfaction that Iran came positive. Not that I wanted US to lose or anything, but I was happy after so many negative things in media regarding Iran and so forth. At least it shows yes they can make effort, they can move up, they can be proud of themsel in

Anna Foley: The US and Iran wouldn't meet again on the World Cup pitch for more than 20 years in 2022 in cutter. At that point, Kevin and Farhad had moved to Southern California, the other side of the planet. But the opportunity to see their two favorite teams square off, it was just too good to pass up. So, I

Anna Foley: what started as Kevin's plans to take his dad to one game ballooned into an epic father-son Middle East trip. Farhad was in charge of logistics.

Farhad: So, this is our flight pattern, and this is all the games that we have.

Anna Foley: He showed me the maps of all the stadiums.

Farhad: I made two copies just in case we lose one.

Kevin: Train times it took to get there. Yeah, my dad is legendary with his notes and his charts and all.

Anna Foley: He ran the itinerary with precision and rigor, but Kevin was the one who had the idea to start off their trip with his dad's lifelong dream to go to Mecca.

Farhad: When Kevin said it, it just touched my heart. To me, that has the highest value. Nothing can beat that. We basically started our FIFA tournament in a spiritual way.

Kevin: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So,

Anna Foley: yeah. I was going to say it's like a nice symmetry. You know, you have a religious pilgrimage and a sports pilgrimage.

Kevin: Yeah, exactly.

Anna Foley: And when it came to the US versus Iran game, here they were again. Two teams that they could cheer for one game, how to choose.

Kevin: There was definitely like a little bit of a tension about it. It was nothing like Kevin's experience in 1998 in that little Ohio restaurant

Kevin: and you hear the Iranian fans like jeering and stuff and whistling at maybe if the US did something or whatever.

Anna Foley: This game was louder

Anna Foley: and full of people who were born and raised in Iran who never even had to question which team to cheer for or how to cheer for both.

Kevin: I've always been Iranianamean. uh even though it's not every day that they come up and play each other in in soccer, but there's been like sporting rivalries or political things between the two countries. It's it's just it's always been that way my whole life. Like I can't even imagine not having

Anna Foley: Of course, this year, this World Cup with the Iranian team playing in the US, it is a different kind of complicated. There's an actual war. There's fallout around the world. There's nationalistic rhetoric and threats. And amid all of that, the Iranian team was scheduled to play World Cup games in

Anna Foley: Kevin doesn't want the games Iran plays to become political. But he's also not naive. When he sees the players on the pitch, he knows that he's seeing them right off a plane. The US restricted visas for the Iranian players which forces them to stay in Tijana. At the start of the tournament,

Farhad: I love both Iran and the US. I mean, the government I love the people of of Iran and I love the people of the United States. And that's what the countries are about. I'm not really crazy about the governments right now either of them. I try to block out politics from when I want to feel something

Kevin: Yeah, absolutely. I mean sports are always politicized especially the World Cup

Kevin: you know 1998 from the Iran perspective that was highly politicized because after Iran won it became the government's evidence or something like we were in the right or something like that like we we beat the US at this or whatever

Kevin: it became like a a political message

Anna Foley: right

Kevin: how will it feel to cheer for Iran today? Um, I mean, for me, I'm I'm going to be really happy about it because I'd love cheering for my background in general, but there's an added joy of the fact that Iran was able to send a team even though the situation is going on.

Anna Foley: Yeah. Well, I guess I'm curious. I think for some people cheering for Iran today, the Iranian team

Anna Foley: could be cheering for the regime. I guess I'm kind of curious how that hits you and how you differentiate what you're doing when you cheer for Iran.

Kevin: Yeah. Uh I could definitely see that it could be seen that way by some people. For me personally, it's more about the the players and the Iranians as a people. So that's kind of the perspective I'm I'm going from. You know, I'm going from from the a perspective of an Iranian-American specifi

Kevin: if we didn't have the context of what's going on right now and it was just Iran is in the World Cup, I get to see Iran play in person. That would have me very excited already to begin with. Um because it's, you know, it's it's something that kind of taps into my my heritage. Like these are s

Anna Foley: because of the war and everything going on.

Kevin: There's kind of like this feeling like you're standing over a ledge or something. It's like there's this this huge thing that's happening, but there's a kind of element of unease and danger and you don't really know how things are going to be resolved.

Anna Foley: Yeah. It feels like you both have such a lovely relationship just to each other, but also to this game and to soccer. And then there's this bigger geopolitical context, this war that's kind of like hanging all above it. Um

Farhad: more spicier.

Anna Foley: It's spicier. It just it just makes everything a little bit spicier is kind of how you're feeling. It turns it turns up the heat is what you're saying. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I guess I'm I'm I How does it feel to sit in that spice? I guess

Farhad: um as I said, it's more challenging. We'll pass through it hopefully. Sometimes you know you look at the curve in math

Farhad: you know always goes down before it can has to meet a minimum point before it starts going up.

Anna Foley: So you're saying there has to be a low point before it becomes a high point.

Farhad: Exactly. Exactly.

Anna Foley: So what point in the curve are we at right now?

Farhad: I think and I'm hoping this is as the lowest it can go not further than that. And as far as whether this game no versus politic was not involved,

Farhad/Anna Foley: it is more challenging, more spicier or whatever you want to call it. But hopefully it uh will pass through all these things. Kevin and Farhad left for the first Iran game with 5 hours to spare. They were worried about traffic and parking, and they didn't want to miss a second of the game. Farhad's

Stadium Announcer: Please rise in favor for the national anthem of the Islamic Republic of

Anna Foley: and the country's national anthem played.

Anna Foley: There were booze all throughout the stadium. Some people turned around so their backs face the flag while the anthem played. Others waved pre-revolution flags in protest. Farhad and Kevin just stood there taking it all in.

Anna Foley: You know, so much of what we talked about earlier today was, you know, like feeling torn. Have any of those feelings come up for you now that you're sitting here?

Kevin/Anna Foley: Uh there's a little bit just of the way the crowd is going and the way that they were booing like the anthem, but then when the players come in and played, they were cheering the players. So there's a little bit of that. Are you saying that you resonate with both the booze and the cheers? Is that w

Kevin: I mean, a little bit because I understand what what every everything's representing, you know, cuz I think for a lot of people, especially who are here right now in this stadium, it's the people who Iran means something different to them because it Iran means their childhood and where they g

Anna Foley: it's like you're kind of watching people like draw lines in the sand in real time.

Kevin: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Anna Foley: Yeah.

Anna Foley/Commentary: Iran tied that game. They actually tied all of their games in the World Cup and over the weekend they were officially eliminated from the tournament. I talked to Farhad and Kevin on Sunday and I asked them how they were feeling. Kevin was excited. His other team, the US, was doing well and he was eager to watch them play in the next round. Farhad was disappointed. He felt like politics and the repercussions of the real world had seeped into the game and it all made it impossible for Iran to succeed. Before the Iranian team left Los Angeles, they wrote this note on a whiteboard in the dressing room of the stadium. It said, "From the ancient Persia of thousands of years ago to the civilized Iran of today, the spirit of Iran remains alive and steadfast. We came to Los Angeles with pride, competed with honor, and leave with dignity. Thank you, Los Angeles, for your hospitality. And thank you to every Iranian who gave their heart, voice, and soul for Iran throughout these 180 minutes. May peace, respect, and friendship prevail among all nations. I read it to Farhad and asked what he thought. He said, "They wrote what I feel. We'll be right back. here's what else you need to know today. The US and Iran have agreed to stop attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and allow ships to move freely through it. According to a US official, Iran had yet to confirm that agreement as of Sunday night. Pausing the hostilities would bring calm after a series of attacks in recent days. After accusing Iran of striking an oil tanker in the strait on Saturday, the US military carried out attacks on Iranian air defense sites and other military infrastructure. Iranian forces retaliated on Sunday, saying they'd targeted a US naval base in Bahrain and an air base in Kuwait with drones and missiles. No casualties were reported. And more than 3 days after two earthquakes devastated Venezuela, the death toll rose to more than 1,400 people with thousands more injured as the desperate efforts to rescue survivors were stymied by chaos and delays. The government's response has been complicated by a rush of civilian vehicles carrying relief supplies in Laguida, the most affected state in the country, leaving aid workers stranded in traffic. There have been more than 430 aftershocks since the earthquakes on Wednesday, prompting many in Laguida to sleep outside for fear that more buildings could fall. Today's episode was produced by Anna Foley, Relle Banja, Eric Krupkkey, and Diana Wyn. It was edited by Brendan Clinkenberg, and Ben Calhoun. Fact checked by Susan Lee, and contains music by Alicia Etup, Sophia Lanman, Marian Lozano, Pat McCusker, and Diane Wong. Our theme music is by Wonderly. This episode was engineered by Chris Wood. That's it for the daily. I'm Natalie Kitroof. See you tomorrow.