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The New York Times
By MARK LANDLER
 NUREMBERG, Germany, June 11 — Symbolism rarely trumps
soccer at the World Cup, but it came close Sunday, when Iran played
its first game of the tournament. A politically isolated country, Iran was
playing in a place that echoes darkly with history.
The score, a 3-1 defeat to Mexico,
did little to relieve Iran's
fraught role at this World Cup.
After a scrappy first half, the Iranians seemed to lose their composure,
allowing Mexico
to score back-to-back goals late in the second half. For the tens of
thousands of sombrero-waving Mexico fans who outnumbered Iran's rooting
section, it was an afternoon to cheer — especially for Omar Bravo, the
forward who scored Mexico's first two goals.
The other country that might have cheered, inwardly, was Germany, which has been rattled by reports
that Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, plans to
travel here to watch Iran
play if it advances beyond its group. With its next game against a strong
Portuguese team, that seems less likely.
Jewish groups here and abroad have called on Germany
to bar Ahmadinejad
from the country for his statements that Israel should be erased from the
map and that the Holocaust did not happen.
Adding to the sensitivity was the game's location, in the northern Bavarian
city of Nuremberg,
where Hitler staged vast Nazi Party rallies in the 1920's and 1930's. The
deserted rally grounds, next to the Franken-Stadion,
were clearly visible to the 42,000 spectators as they filed into the stadium.
The German police dispersed 16 people who they said were distributing
anti-Jewish leaflets before the game. But neo-Nazi rallies in support of Ahmadinejad did not materialize.
Iran's
national team, which failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup, came into this
tournament with reasonable hopes. Its squad has a mix of young players and
seasoned talent, some of whom play for professional teams in Germany and
are well known to local spectators.
Iran
came out strong at the start, with two quick shots by forward Vahid Hashemian — the second a
header saved dramatically by the Mexican goalkeeper, Oswaldo
Sánchez.
But Mexico
scored first, when Pável Pardo
took a free kick from the right of the penalty area and Guillermo Franco
headed it down to Bravo, who kicked it home in the 28th minute.
Iran
tied the score eight minutes later. Sánchez saved Rahman Rezaei's header, but
defender Yahya Golmohammadi
chipped in the rebound.
The teams finished the first half evenly matched. But the second half was Mexico's. Iran seemed
to lose focus and its defense got sloppy. Mexico,
playing a patient game, set up a shot in front of Iran's goal for Bravo, who
drilled it past goalkeeper Ebrahim Mirzapour in the 76th minute.
Three minutes later, with Iran's defenders seemingly not paying attention, a
substitute midfielder, Zinha, put himself in front
of the goal and headed in Mexico's third goal. Zinha,
whose given name is Antonio Naelson Matías, was born in Brazil and is a naturalized
Mexican citizen.
Iran's
coach, Branko Ivankovic,
paced the sidelines with a distraught expression as the clock ticked away.
The victory was especially sweet for Sánchez, Mexico's
veteran goalkeeper. His father died last week, and he returned Saturday from
the funeral in Guadalajara.
The Mexican team was not sure whether Sánchez, 32,
would be in mental shape for the game. Judging from his several leaping
saves, he was more than ready for the challenge.
Iran's
preparations for the World Cup have been shadowed by politics every step of
the way. Critics of the Tehran government
urged soccer's world governing body, FIFA, to bar
the team — citing not only its president's anti-Jewish remarks but Iran's
standoff with the West over its nuclear program. FIFA declined to do that,
saying that sports should be kept separate from politics.
On Sunday afternoon, a few hundred members of a local Jewish group protested
against Ahmadinejad in a square in Nuremberg's old city. They carried Israeli
flags and placards that read: "Never Again. No Acceptance of Mass
Murder. No Acceptance of Threats of Mass Murder."
"We don't want a second Hitler; we know what his purposes here
are," the group's leader, Arno Hamburger,
said. He added that the players bore no blame and should be allowed to
compete.
The protesters expressed anger that Germany
had allowed Iran's
vice president, Mohammad Aliabadi, to travel here
for the game. Though Aliabadi has not been quoted
saying inflammatory things about Israel, people here said he was a
representative of the president.
"We don't want an Iran
that is associated with terrorism," said Tahara
Jafapour, an Iranian exile who lives in Stuttgart and attended
the protest carrying a Persian flag.
Among Iranian fans outside the stadium, opinion about the government was
split, but support for the players was uniform.
"I don't think he should come," Shahram Bakhtiari, 46, a salesman who has lived in Germany for
27 years, said, referring to Ahmadinejad. "It's
a provocation. The government is trying to use the team to its
advantage."
Ali Shahrani, 38, an information technology
specialist from Tehran, said that Ahmadinejad should be allowed to come to Germany like
any other leader. He blamed the news media for hounding the team.
"People are trying to mix sports and politics," he said. "Let's
just leave one day without politics."
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