Pod Save the World - World Corrupt Episode 7: Stoppage Time!

Episode Date: December 2, 2022

Tommy and Rog examine a tournament in which politics, sport and humanity have all been laid bare; USMNT captain Tyler Adams' leadership and poise when answering questions from Iran's state-run media; and what political and social scrutiny the United States could face as co-host for the 2026 World Cup.

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Plus, everything's backed with Tommy John's best pair you'll ever wear or its free guarantee. Go to Tommyjohn.com slash world. Go right now for 20% off your first order. 20% off at Tommyjohn.com.com slash world. Tommyjohn.com slash world. See site for details. Politics, history, basic humanity are spilling out everywhere in these games. Are you okay to be representing the U.S.?

Meanwhile, there's so much discrimination happening against black people in America. One thing that I've learned, especially from living abroad in the past years, and is that in the U.S., we're continuing to make progress every single day. For the 2026 World Cup, I just hope that our response as a nation is to realize that we're not above approach, and to deal with criticism more like Tyler Adams than FIFA. Welcome back to World Corrupt, a podcast about the 2022 World Cup in the only obvious place to host such a tournament. Qatar, I'm thrilled to say that your ears are listening to a podcast that has gone into stoppage time.

Yes, this is the seventh episode of what was supposed to be a six-part mini-series. Yes, it's true, Raj. I'm just not ready to say goodbye to you, buddy. Don't want to close my eyes. I don't want to fall asleep because I miss you, Thomas. Oh, and I don't want to... By the way, have you not change your name officially to Tommy John? I don't know.

Good question. Just for branding purposes. That's how deep we are in the World Cup action. Little bit dossy, a little bit dizzy. Christian Policitt. You're a god among men born in a manger in Hershey, Pennsylvania. was his goal against Iran the single greatest use of American nut

since General McCallif at Baston, Tommy? Okay, so I had to Google this one. General McCallif listeners is famous in Army circles for replying with just one word to a German demand that he surrender. That word was nuts, inspiring stuff, Raj. But I know that if General McCallif can survive

the Battle of the Bulge, then Kristen Polisich's bulge can make it through this one, but I digress. Incredible performance by Christian and the U.S. men's team and their win over Iran. But we'll get to that in good time. And speaking of not getting ahead of ourselves, as I said earlier, this is the seventh episode in our series. If it's your first time listening, we are thrilled to have you, but we would highly recommend you go back to the beginning to hear about FIFA's history, their corruption, Qatar's atrocious human rights record and the many, many other reasons Qatar should not be hosting the World Cup and then what teams, players and fans

like us can all do about it. But today in this stoppage time special, which likely won't last as long as I have to say this, the extraordinarily random and enormous amount of stoppage time referees who just had living at this World Cup. We're going to talk about the World Cup coverage, how Qatar is fared as a team in this competition. Spoiler alert, not good. And also as a host, spoilerer alert, not good at all. And the political process free for all, it's emerged as a result as a tournament rumbles on. The on and off-the-field competition between the United States and Iran will briefly ponder what it will feel like when the world's eyes are trained on the United States. When we host the 2026 World Cup along with Mexico and Canada in just four years time, Tommy a lot to get through.

Are you ready? I'm ready. eager even, like Cristiano Ronaldo, ready to grab a bag of cash from the Saudi government. But enough about that. If we had any more topics, Roger, we will have to record a penalty kick episode. And if it does go into penalties, got some news for you, Thomas. The Germans, they'll inevitably win. Nine.

Okay, back to business then. So, Roger has been strapped. German tommies. German Tommy is probably not one of our top ten favorite tommies. I can't tell you. That took me by surprise at 9. So, Raj, as you can tell, whose list we were watching him, he's been strapped to a TV like the guy in the clockwork orange

since this tournament started and has seen every game. And again, Raj, I'm amazed at your stamina. I know what it's like down there in the podcast content minds. The casual listener probably looks at us. They see what we do and they think, that's not hard. You know what? And they're right. But those men in Blazers live shows,

I know they take a lot of energy and preparation. So I salute you from here. My ability to feast on football, though, was helped enormously by the Thanksgiving week timing. It has gotten to the point where Hannah, my beautiful wife, officially finds it annoying or finds me annoying. How's it all going in your house, Raj? That's, well, my house I've not really seen a lot of. We have been on tour. We are going from sea to shining sea.

We're in the middle of a coast-to-coast tour we were in. I can't even remember the cities. They're all wonderful. There's like Philadelphia, D.C. I think I was just in Austin for several days. We're headed to Nashville any minute now, Atlanta, Los Angeles. We're coming for you. And it is a bit insane.

The tour aspect, it's like we're like a band on the road, which is grueling in itself. But we are like a band on the road. And because we're responding immediately to the on the field, the off the field, the football, the geopolitics in real time, we're like a band who is writing a new album every bloody night. But the energy, the different cultures, the remarkable cities, just a passion, the joy is what is driving us at this moment. And I will say America has most certainly got another doctor, but I diagnose a nasty case of World Cup fever, which is just a joy.

It's like a wave that we're surfing. And I do feel, you ask me how my house, how is it? My house, I've been here for a couple of hours. I got home at 1 o'clock last night. My dog, Martin Scorsese, welcoming home alone. At 1 a.m., he'd done a massive crowsy. in his cage. It was really the hero's welcome.

But I'm now legally married to the World Cup. I even had the Universal Life Church Minister do the honours and everything. Luckily, my partner, Vanessa, is proper football. She has watched her fair share, as of all my four children. And the tour has meant that they're able to do so in the right spirit, which sports meant to be enjoyed, and not with me, screaming at the television, and changing my soiled Tommy John several times a game.

I'm not too proud to him. admit it. Starting with the pregame, if I'm being honest, Tommy. Yeah, I think I'm actually an ordained Universal Live Minister myself. I did a wedding ones. Anyway, enough about me. I have not watched a lot of the pre-year post game on Fox Raj, in part because I don't want to catch a case of Alexey Lawless. But what have you made of the coverage so far? It's been a touch controversial. It has been a touch controversial. And what's troubled me the most about it is not so much the way Fox have treated the political portion of the competition, but really the fact that they have not covered it at all.

And it was Ben Strauss at the Washington Post. He wrote a piece right before the World Cup, where he reported that Fox would not touch anything geopolitical, and ultimately he uncovered that they were doing it for a reason. Reason being Qatar Airways, yes, Qatar's state-owned airline, stepped up to serve as a major, major sponsor of the network's coverage. in fact made sure they had enough money to actually take the broadcast over to Qatar, where we're going to do it, I think, from LA.

So essentially, our American broadcast content is being underwritten by the Qatari government itself. So Fox have chosen to completely ignore anything, anything, even tangentially connected to the geopolitical stories, even the ones that are undeniably and intrinsically linked to the football itself, none of the human rights stories, the armband wars, or even the United States and Iran having such an insane international frack hour ahead of their game, which we will discuss where press conferences became conversations about race and inflation in America. And Fox's reporters would do these eerie, instant reactions where they airbrushed out any disharmony. You wouldn't even know anything was going on. Instead, they've kind of chosen to feed us up a steady diet of.

of, and I crap you not, falconry. Yeah. Well, they go to great lengths when they go and watch falcons training, what they're training and training and killing, but then a voiceover comes in and says, we assure you, no prey was hurt in the making of these films. For real, you know, it's very important to us

that the falcons prey does not get hurt, but we won't mention the thousands of foreign workers who've died to make the whole football thing go off. Isn't this how Pravda in the old Soviet Union used to work? It's got some Pravda vibes. Yeah, it sounds like the Falcons were just like playing tag in the desert with the little creatures they impale with their talents. I'm not going to hurt you.

I'm just going to kill you. So, Rod, I admittedly had very low expectations for Fox. That was because David Neal, the executive producer of Fox's World Cup coverage, told journalists back in October that he viewed issues like Qatar's treatment of migrant workers to be, quote, ancillary to the story of the tournament and said they would not be part of Fox's coverage. I did not, though, expect them to veer into literal infomercial territory. I was waiting for these guys to start trying out different types of blenders or juice

amatics or whatever. The Shimwow. The Shimwau. Fox has been getting a lot of grief for one softball interview. One of their hosts did with Hassan Al Thwati, the Secretary General of Qatar's World Cup Supreme Committee. topics in the interview included, thank you for this beautiful set,

Mr. Secretary General. I wish I was kidding. The Washington Post, as you mentioned, they reported on this sweetheart sponsorship deal with Guitar Airways, as you highlighted last week. All of this stands in really start contests to some of the great coverage you've seen. The BBC has done a great job.

A friend of the show, Terric Panja, continues to report on the plight of migrant workers in his coverage for the New York Times. I know Telemundo said they were going to cover these off-the-field issues. So Fox's coverage aside, though, Raj, I have been pleasantly surprised at just how much airtime the issues around Qatar's human rights records got into the run-up, at least in the US. I get the sense, people I talk to, it seems like there's a widespread understanding that

Qatar was a bad choice to host this tournament for a variety of reasons. But even for those outlets that are watching it closely, that coverage of Qatar's human rights issues as cool considerably as the games have kicked in, the competition has ratcheted up, the Storia Messi is now Messia is now Messia. Rinaldo's now Rinaldo-ing. And also, Johnny Infantino, the president of FIFA, he stopped Johnny Infantinoing. And you may remember him, listen, we talked about him a lot on this show, the gentleman who looks like he was just plucked fresh from an open casting call for Spector Criminal Masterminds who could

play the next James Bond movie. He of the insane rambling, epic open speech, the place where what aboutism meets verbal diarrhea. Surely you remember this, dear listeners. Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel Arab. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled.

Today I feel a migrant worker. So Johnny Infantino, he's quite the showman, quite likes the spotlight, and he was everywhere over the first couple of days of the World Cup. But since shooting himself firmly in the foot, that once red-haired, freckled bastard, he's gone to ground. He's been eerily silent or been silenced. Yeah, smartest thing he's done. Yeah, but what it's meant is there's been nothing to rage against.

Even the International Olympic Committee, And when you say those words, even the International Olympic Committee, even they give regular briefings during the Olympics. FIFA have gone utterly radio silent. And I also think there was a moment we talked about last week when the German national team played their opening game against Japan and the players lined up in their traditional formation for that pregame photograph. And as the camera is about to click,

all 11 players covered their mouths with their right hands. in a coordinated gesture. Their coach Hansi Flick later said it was a sign from the team from us that FIFA is musling us. And there was one problem. The team went and lost. A shock result to one.

And rather than be applauded by their home fans for stepping up in the moment, the act drew an incredibly mixed response. Viewing figures, it should be said, have been incredibly low. usually low in Germany. There are a lot of fans in the German football, the Bundesliga, in the run-up, you may remember,

huge number of banners, boycott Qatar, huge demand amongst the hardcore fans for their team not to go. So from their perspective, the gesture was too late and an empty one because they were playing and they shouldn't have been. And then there was an element of society that was just like, oh my God, you did it. You did the gesture and you lost.

And I don't know how you say, shut up and dribble in German. is it, the clapah halten and German. So whatever it was, it was shouted loud, aggressively, so aggressively that German star Ilkeye Gundewad, who's an incredibly thoughtful bloke, he quickly announced, quote, the politics are finished,

and that from now on the two would just focus on the football and celebrating. And that loss almost served as a cautionary tale. As it did for Denmark, you may remember them listeners, they have the monotone jersey, where they said we'd mark the fact that we want to play a World Cup

but not in Qatar. They too crap the bed. Two impotent losses. They got their wish, bounced out of the tournament, leaving a lot of their fans wondering if their players were just totally distracted.

So especially as we entered this Squid Games S portion of the group stages where teams start to be eliminated, the players become locked into their football and football only, Tommy. And there's still, you know, off the field flare-ups of Qatar's

never-ending war on the rainbow. Damn you! rainbow, you artificial thing, but the footballers, they've gone completely stumped. Being mad at rainbows, I think, is comically funny to me. I like, who's next, right? Sunsets, fjords.

It's how we lost the unicorns, apparently. The unicorn vote is gone. I think on Wednesday of this week, so the day before we're recording this, FIFA, who are nothing, if not experts, at comedic timing, finally gave a public assurance that rainbow items and banner

supporting protests in Iran will be allowed into stadiums, just in the nick of time for all those fans who have been harassed by the Qatari security forces. God, I giggled then, because we laugh or else we cry. Iran played games, and there were just so many fans trying to bring Persian flags in, bringing women life freedom flags in, and the Qatari security cracked down on all of them. And while I'm sure, because I've tried to be a good-hearted person, and believe in people, that the announcement was intended to go out before the time.

tournament, it just got stuck in Janney's inbox. I hit send, but I must have had no service. I'm so sorry. It's a laughable gesture because almost the moment Iran went out one week into the tournament, their fans will actually have no chance to show their banners to parade their slogans to the world because their national team will not kick a football again at this tournament. I really did feel for those Iranian players and we'll get to that game in a bit. But speaking of teams that were eliminated, the very first to meet that fate, Raj, was Qatar, I believe. Now, is that a good showing or a bad showing for a host country? Is that a leading question, Your Honor?

You told me. Oh, Tommy, they were. Qatar were the first team to be kicked out in the tournament. How do I put this after they'd only gone and spent over $220 billion to host the tournament in the first place and chipped in over 2 billion more into developing elite football players in a hot house laboratory. I mean, scientifically loaded youth development academy. It's called the Aspire Academy.

We talked about it in episode three, about the Qatari quest to build the Qatari Messi. I think the emphasis was more on the Qatari part than the messy part. By the way they played, because their team was simply awful, losing all three games. and what was the single worst performance by a host nation in the history of the World Cup. By the way, in the game when they got beat for the third time

against the Netherlands, in a half-empty stadium, Fox made absolutely no mention that this was the single worst and fastest elimination by a host nation in the tournament's history because, again, that line undermines their right to host a bloody thing in the first place. They just kept saying,

what a good showing. They're only two-nill down right now. really impressive with the kind of line that they took. I watched it and I was just like, oh my God, my pillow commercials are less of an infomercial than the coverage at sometimes. And look, at least the pillow is useful. I'm not sure you can say the same for Alexie Lalas's power rankings. Sorry, Lexi. I really did cheer for you back in the day. And by the way, Raj, $220 billion spent by the Gattari government. By the way, the pay-up FIFA campaign, which is asking FIFA to set aside or the Qatar government,

to set aside $440 million to help all these workers who would hurt could be paid a hundred times over without a amount of money. It's absurd. They could solve all of their political problems just by helping those folks out. But anyway, the Qatari Maroon were so bad, as you mentioned, that many of their own fans left games early. And the New York Times is James Montague, which sounds like a 15th century French philosopher that I failed to read in college. He is. He is. Michel de Montaigne. How long have you been working here since the 15th century? It's changed a little bit. Straight to touch.

He reported that Qatar's most vocal fans, their ultras as they're known, were bust in from Lebanon. Now that is embarrassing. Raj, what is in Ultra? And why did Qatar have to import them? It's actually an amazing story. Again, we laugh because if we didn't laugh, we would weep. Ultras are hardcore football fans who live and die, follow a team, sing for the team. You have the team's crest tattooed on their.

on their purse and think essentially football's equivalent to the Bill's Mafia. And these Diard fans, the whole life revolves around football in general and their team in particular. I love Bill's Mafia. I hope the Ultras do elbow drops through folding tables like the guys up in Buffalo. Roger, are you the lead Everton Ultra? Tommy, I'm probably about 150 pounds and a tummy tattoo away from being considered an Everton Ultra. I don't know that a Tracy Chapman tattoo is going to do it, pal. I'm not going to cut it for you here.

Oh, mate, you should see when I'm about to get into a fight at the game and I just lift up my shirt and they see that Tracy Chapman first album cover tattooed on my belly the way they quake and charge away in fear. But this is not about me. This is about guitar. It's lack of fans. It's lack of a footballing tradition, which we've talked about throughout the show. They don't have these types of fans.

There is not, Qatar and the word ultra just do not go to. together. And they do not go together for a reason, because there are bona fide football fans in guitar, for sure, a few. And football, if you ask yourself, is it woven into the fabric of society in such a way that they have these type of fans that you do in other countries? Absolutely not. And the reason for it is actually fascinating. And I'm not sure if you've heard Tommy, but Qatar, they've got an oppressive regime at the wheel running things. I did. I heard that a little bit. Don't know if you knew that TV.

Read that somewhere. They see the songs crafted on the bleachers in football mad nations like Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon. They see them as a threat not just to football, but they see to their very standing. Because the football fans have chants that have often been the soundtracks to anti-government protests. And so often football fandom is deeply connected to uncontrollable revolution, to uncontrollable dissent. And because Qatar wants to squash these movements before they occur, they're a nation that simply will not tolerate any kind of organized football fandom. Look, and in fairness, right, there's not that many people in Qatar to begin with.

So maybe the lack of support is explainable or understandable, which is I'm sure what the Qatari government did per usual. They were open. They were candid. They admitted to the world that they were paying off these folks. There was transparency, right? Close, Tommy. instead the New York Times reporter

who sounds like a 15th century French philosopher he realized that in watching Qatar's first game where they really were there was probably like a thousand fans all wearing the same shirt a maroon coloured shirt with Qatar in English and Arabic and they were so passionate

and they were so organised and they chanted and long after all the other Qatari fans had left they kept bringing it and he noticed they've got lots of tattoos and he also knew enough to say, that is not common for Qataris. So he went, spoke to them. And it turns out, well, here's the back story.

The Qatari organizers of this World Cup were terrified that their team would take the field and have absolutely no atmosphere. So they did the logical rational thing. They started to scout fans, recruit fans in nearby Arab countries, particularly like the Lebanese clubs. And they went out there and almost auditioned them, these ultras, offered them free flights, accommodations, match tickets, food, plus a small stipend. I feel like I'm doing the sale, closing the deal now, to bring essentially ultra-culture,

import it to Qatar's World Cup games. These fans were essentially mercenaries. So the fans that we keep seeing on the broadcast, they keep showing these maroon shirts, the ones with guitar written all over them, so excited for their nation, so excited. They're not Qatari football fans at all. they're essentially paid actors, extras. And now some of the fans quoted in New York Times, they do say that as Arabs, it's their job to support a fellow Arab nation.

But the entire thing, this whole story is just given off, almost reinforced that stink of artifices and engineered atmosphere and just the complete artificiality and sterility of the whole thing. I think in the TV biz, they call it Atmos. I look, I also, I bet there are a lot of migrant laborers in Qatar who would have loved a stipend. They would have loved an afternoon off and a free ticket to a game. But, you know, I guess that wasn't the image that Qatar wanted to portray. And by the way, Roger, this is the second major New York Times story about Qatar paying fans to come to the World Cup.

Who wrote the other one? Was it the Tockfield? I think Bruceau wrote that one. Yeah. They also, God, they also paid fans of a bunch of teams. participating teams to attend as long as those fans would agree to only post positive things about the host nation, Qatar, but also to narc out other people who are criticizing guitar on social media. So like, when you add it all up, it makes the whole thing feel artificial. It is basically

the splendor of World Cup tournaments. Oh, and on this podcast, we're hashtag team sweet and low, baby. Raj, I know you're on the road, on the pod, on the stage, pretty much everywhere at this point covering the World Cup. Can I do? you a little diet hack. Keep the air conditioning on, even in winter, to help combat the meat sweats. That's a good one. But I want to tell you about a product I use literally every day. It's called AG1.

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and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance. Do you think AG1 is Merrick Garland's personalised license plate? Despite Qatar's attempts to control almost every aspect of this tournament from the very start, from their remote control clouds that they promised would block out the sun to Katari Ultra Fantasy Camp. And despite Johnny Infantino's pleas to stick to the football, this tournament really spiraled. because once European ministers realized that they could turn up in the official boxes, wearing rainbow armbands that the players were not allowed to wear and that no one could stop them, the Qatari themselves got involved.

They counter-arm bands. Several of them turned up featuring pro-Palestinian designs at the Japan-Germany game. And from that moment on, the genie just seems to have leapt out of the bottle at this tournament, the political messaging, the symbolism. It's just never been more omnipresent than at this World Cup. Politics, history, basic humanity are spilling out everywhere in these games.

And it sometimes feels that we're in a global what-aboutism standoff, fought with armbands at high noon, at which the football is really just a fleeting diversion. I love that, a global what-aboutism stand-off. But, Raj, I think literally the first time I ever talked to you, you said that during the World Cup, each country's history and their politics takes the field with the players. And I thought at the time, that's a pretty good line.

I think I'm going to steal that later, pass it off as my own. Sounds smart for once. But I don't think I realize just how true it was and just how present those histories would feel. And still, I started watching this tournament. I mean, during the Germany-Japan game, all I could think about was that this was like an all-axis powers matchup. and I was waiting for Italy to storm the field somehow and also get beaten. They didn't make it, by the way. History was there again when Tunisia beat its former occupier France.

There was Iran versus England. The list goes on and on and on. And it just, I think, underscores how ridiculous it was for FIFA president Gianni Infantino to ever pretend that sticking to football was an option, right? And so my take on the endless armband duels is just like let everybody fire away. You know, if Qatar's response to criticism of their human rights record is to highlight the treatment of Palestinians, I would argue that that is a pretty cynical deflection that doesn't address the underlying issues. But I also, I too want to see negotiations that lead to a Palestinian state and better life for the Palestinian people.

So let's just like, let's air it all out and let's talk about these issues in a respectful way and stop trying to silence people, especially players. It's also manifested itself in much more flickering, menacing ways and just all. band break dance battles. Serbia's Football Association, they hung a controversial flag. Put it up in their locker room before the Brazil game. And the flag showed an outline of Kosovo, one filled with the colors of the Serbia flag and the words, no surrender. Instantly, the Football Federation of Kosovo, who are not in this tournament,

they farther complain to FIFA, which has opened up disciplinary proceedings against the Serbian Football Association. Tommy, can you just explain the previous hit? Yeah, I'm not a fan of this one. So Kosovo is a tiny little landlock country wedge between the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea. If you're trying to imagine it in your mind's eye, basically you go due north of Greece and you're there. So Kosovo was part of Yugoslavia until the early 90s when the country started to break up. And that breakup unleashed all kinds of fighting and warfare and just horrors. And the fighting included a brutal crackdown by Serbia against ethnic Albanians who were seeking independence in what's now known as Kosovo. That fighting only ended after NATO got involved and started bombing Serbian targets. Kosovo later declared independence in 2008, but to this day, there are NATO peacekeeping forces in Kosovo, in part because the current Serbian president has vowed to never recognize Kosovo as an independent country. So over the summer, there were flare-ups

again. Kosovo accused Serbia of stirring up ethnic tensions. They said that effort was actually backed by the Russians. So this flag that was hung up in the Serbian teams locker room basically says, Kosovo, you don't exist. And we will keep fighting until you are under our control. It's incredibly inflammatory, some argued, genocidal language. There's another instance which really, really laid me low, also from the Balkans, but also hitting slightly closer to home, as it involved a beautiful, beautiful bloat, the Canadian goalkeeper, Milan Borough, who those of you have watched this lovable Canadian collective or now is a sweet, sweet bloke who has a poncho for wearing sweatpants

and not just shorts. And occasionally, it pulls on a hood that just adorbs because it makes them look very slightly like Cornholio from Beavis and Butthead. And Bohan was born in Croatia in an ethnic Serb region that was part of the conflict that split the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Tommy, I'm going to need you to bring us up to speed on this. Yeah, listen, unfortunately, Roger, this incident dates back to that same Pandora's box of horrors that was opened up by the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Borhan is an ethnic Serb, but his family lived in a town in Croatia that was mostly populated by Serbs. You know, there were little enclaves or ethnic enclaves all around the region. And that is, they lived there until his family had to flee their hometown in 1995 when it was taken by Croatian forces. And there were stories at the time that Serbs were so desperate to escape that they fled on tractors. And Croatian fans at this Canada-Croatia game apparently held up a flag with a John Deere tractor on it in the name of Borhan's hometown in an effort to taunt him,

which is, you know, very classy to mock families who are desperately trying to escape a war. Classy and honestly, watching it was horrifying. And I know that the Qataris security teams in the stadiums, We're probably so bloody busy hunting down all those dangerous rainbows to have time to handle something linked to war atrocities and, you know, death. But America, the country that I love so much, even they couldn't escape the wire of politics and history at this World Cup. And this became clear earlier this week when the US ramped up for that win or go home game

against Iran, spoiler alert, they won. But Iran, that nation that's really been at the war. the epicenter of so much of the politics of this most political World Cup, largely because of the women's rights protest currently sweeping that nation. Let's start there, Tommy. Tell us what's happening in Iran. Yeah, I mean, we touched on this a little bit last week, but, you know, Iranians have been out on the streets protesting since September when a young woman named Masa Amini was murdered by Iran's so-called morality police. I can't bring myself to call them the morality police because they're really just thugs who harass and arrest women

if they believe they aren't dressed conservatively enough, like if a little bit of hair is showing from under their headscarf, for example. And when these protests started, they really were focused on the treatment of women, the actions of the morality police, and just the horrible way that, you know, women were plucked off the street and just beaten and bruised in police stations. But over time, the crowds have grown,

and as so often happens in these protest movements, the list of demands has grown too. And you see people now calling for essentially regime change, you know, death to the dictator. And in response, the government crackdown has been absolutely brutal. I've seen estimates of over 16,000 protesters arrested. Hundreds have been killed, including children. There's no doubt that those are undercounts and the true scope of what has happened is not known to us.

But, you know, it's really an extraordinary moment in Iran's history. And at this World Cup, we've seen the Iranian. players refuse to sing their anthem in their opening game against England, which watching it was so unbelievably moving, an act of true courage as the regime seeks retribution against dissenters. And CNN actually reported that the regime then threatened their families. And so half-hearted anthem singing continued before their games from that point on. We've also seen women, life freedom banners and Persian flags sprouting from fans in the stands. There was one brave

woman who came to the game wearing a jersey with Masha Amini's name on the back of it. She stood there briefly for the camera. She had blood paint dripping down her face. It was one of the most striking images of this whole tournament. Katari security,

got to say, quickly on that one. Shirt confiscated. I imagine they've got this gigantic room in every single stadium, which is just chocker full of rainbow stuff that they just opened the door and fling more in the Lepricons in there, yeah. Anyway, the Iranian team's appearance, their bravery in this tournament.

It's been such a source of light, a complex source of light, but we really can't say enough about it. And that's all background. Brace yourself, listeners, to the lead-up of the United States game, which was a must-win for the US. And in the run-up, someone in the US international team, social media crew stepped, well, let's just say they stepped in a pile, In a post that went out across their platforms for about 24 hours, they decided to remove the

symbol of the Islamic Republic from the center of the flag on their postings, only showing it's red, white, and green stripes. It was, let's say it's a well-intentioned, but incredibly clumsy attempt to support the protests that are happening across that country. Let me just quickly say why I felt like that social graphic was a bit of an own goal. Raj, if you will. So first of all, thank you. It just sort of seemed insulting to everyone. I'm not sure who's who's aided by like a crappy photoshopped image. It was only up for 24 hours and then pulled down as the players and the coach of the U.S. team had to brief the press and say they weren't consulted about this whole thing. It felt like a bit of a half-baked attempt at clickbait that came not long after a truly embarrassing tweet at and about Taylor Swift. that we won't talk about more. I'm very comfortable criticizing Iran's supreme leader. I'm comfortable criticizing its elected officials

and Iran's security services, but not the people of the country. I don't want to insult them. And as a country, as a nation in the United States, we have to be mindful that we have a complicated history with Iran. In 1953, the United States, backed by the British government, supported a military coup in Iran

that toppled its democratically elected leader. the United States then helped prop up a pro-Western but hated government for decades, for oil revenue basically. It was called the Shah. And then in 2013, President Obama cut this historic deal with Iran to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon, which Donald Trump pulled out of before slapping more economic sanctions on them. So the moral of the story here is that, you know, the U.S. men's team Twitter intern or whatever wandered into a bit of a political minefield here and they would probably be better off, you know, stick into thirsty messages about Taylor Swift even if we can forget that one ever happened.

But I will just say, wandering into the Taylor Swift fan base is a geopolitical minefield. It's a dangerous game. Be careful. Yeah, BTS is the only one that's scarier, if we're being honest. But the keyboard brinkmanship was really just the amuse boost for all that followed because the Iranian state media agency, Tasso's. Neem called for the US team to be immediately booted from the entire tournament. They threatened, get this, to file a complaint to FIFA's Ethics Committee, which had a, I mean, a startling effect. You always heard the entire world just turn around and laugh and be like, what?

FIFA's pretending that it's got an ethics committee. I mean, it was just, it's not much that truly unites us around the glue, but I think just lullsing that there's a door somewhere in FIFA with the title Ethics Committee written on it. It's like me having a hairstyle committee. Anyway, the poor US players and manager suddenly caught a swirling geopolitical storm in which the State Department had to step in,

put out press release to make it clear to everyone that it had not been involved at all in any of this, that it was just a US soccer intern going full send on those graphics. And it would get worse for the United States boys because the pre-match news conference held ahead of the game Monday. In it, Iranian journalists engage our 23-year-old captain, Tyler Adams, from Wappingas Falls,

in an exchange that quickly went global. Tyler, this question is for you. My name is Mila Javamadi from Press TV. First of all, you say you support the Iranian people, but you're pronouncing our country's name wrong. Our country is named Iran, not Iran. Please, once and for all, let's get this clear. Second of all, are you okay to be representing a country

that has so much discrimination against black people in its own borders? And we saw the Black Lives Matter movements over the past few years. Are you okay to be representing the US? Meanwhile, there's so much discrimination happening against black people in America. My apologies on the mispronunciation of your country.

Yeah, that being said, you know, there's discrimination everywhere you go. You know, one thing that I've learned, especially from living abroad in the past years and having to fit in different cultures and kind of assimilate into different cultures, is that in the U.S. We're continuing to make progress every single day. Through education, I think it's super important. like you just educated me now on the pronunciation of your country. So yeah, it's a process. I think as long as you see progress, that's the most important thing. Can I just say, Tyler Adams, he and I have done a podcast together all year

on his journey to the World Cup. And I'd like to think that I obviously played no small role in preparing him to deal with idiotic questions and assholes because I've asked him as an asshole, lots of idiotic questions for the past 12 months. But in all seriousness, this was to me, whatever happens in the World Cup, the greatest American Men's World Cup moment of 2022. It was incredible. Humanly, how Tyler handled this, right, Tommy.

Can you think, let me ask you this, can you think of a single politician who would be able to handle a situation like this with such calm, with such intelligence, with such humility? No, but probably not. I mean, look, a couple thoughts on this. one, growing up with the last name, Vitor, which was mispronounced, a infinite number of ways, Viter Vietor, Vator. I never really understood people getting all upset about mispronunciations, but that's fine, Roge.

We lesson learned, Iran, we'll fix it going forward. But look, truly, credit to Tyler Adams, mostly just for being unflappable there in front of the entire world. I mean, he showed grace, humility. He didn't get mad at a really kind of a cynical. effort to invoke his race. And he answered the question in a way that was honest and real and not defensive. And I walked away feeling like, that's my captain. By the way, when you went to the, when I grew up,

I thought you were going to reveal that you were once bullied as a freckled redhead. I'm glad that we didn't have to hear about that pain. But I will say to have so much poise at the age of 20th, bloody three is just unbelievable. And it was at that moment right there that no matter what happened in the game, I felt like Tyler Adams had just won the World Cup. And Iranian journalists, on the other hand, they then proceeded to launch into the most ridiculous line of questions.

I've seen a footballing press conference in a long, long time, including some fired our manager, Greg Burhalter, whom they started to ask about inflation in the United States. And this one, my personal favorite, Tommy, they asked Greg Burhalter, manager of the US and international team why he'd not pressured the United States to remove a naval warship from waters near Iran. Tommy, Greg's a gent who still is yet to come up

with an effective corner kick routine. So this was a little bit farcical, but I need to know, who are these reports? I love that so much. Coach Greg, why won't you get the USS Harry as Truman out of the Strait of Hormuz? That's a fair question. So these reporters, let's do the air quotes here,

for those who are watching at home. They were from Iran's press TV, I believe. And the thing to know about press TV is they are not press. Even the name is Orwellian. It is state-run TV. I believe they are the only organization legally allowed to broadcast radio and TV in Iran. And press TV is owned by an organization who is run by a guy directly appointed by the Supreme Leader of Iran. So they take orders from the top. We used to have to deal with these guys all the time back at the White House. There was an old Russian dude who pretended to be a reporter when everybody knew he was a spy. None of us ever saw him file a story, Raj. It wasn't like a great cover. But yeah, it's a real pain. Is his name Pierce Morgan? That's way too harsh. We don't want to clean up another international incident here that will be

handed to Tyler Adams. Basically, Iranian press TV guys, they are propagandists, right? So they're more Sean Spicer than Wolf Blitzer, if you get my drift. Yeah, Wolf would never tell me. But Tommy, you've worked in that White House when all this is going down, a social media post on ORE that gets the attention of the Iranian government, Iranian reporters asking Triple G, Greg Burhalter, about US military strategy, you know, gunboats, one tiny tweet. And certainly like, I just imagine like gunboats rotating their direction of trajectory. What happens at an actual diplomatic level?

Yeah, I mean, look, the State Department got asked about this. I mean, and I would all be guaranteed. that the person who has my old job at the White House on the National Security Council, they did too. I know that CNN reported that they asked state if they had coordinated on the graphic with the men's soccer team. They had not. But like when those questions come in, you actually have to run that question up the chain through the bureaucracy and you have to make damn sure there was no coordination, maybe at a lower level that senior leaders weren't aware of and have your facts straight. Because if you're wrong, this could turn into an even bigger conspiratorial mess. And I can tell you from

experience that little things like this stupid Photoshop job can become big problems internationally quite fast. God, I would have loved if the State Department would put our press release just saying, we didn't have anything to do with this, but for the love of Goghauer-Holter, can you play Gio-Ra-Rater for more than seven minutes? What one, though, is where does all this leave us, Tommy? An event? The world. Cup, which is meant to be filled with joy, global connectivity, meaning, but so rife, occasionally rancid, to be honest, with politics and fast becoming even more political, because we love a bit of a recency bias at Men in Blazers.

It is a currency in which we trade regularly, but this World Cup, it's been political before. Remember back in episode one, we talked about Mussolini's 1934 World Cup, 1978's run by the Argentinian Hunter, and of course, 2018, Vladimir Putin's World Cup. But this, this is most certainly the single most overtly political World Cup I have experienced there. And if we thought this one was political, projecting forward, what does that say about the next one? Which is, Tommy, I've just forgotten where it is for a second.

Can you remind me? Right here, the US, Mexico, Canada. We actually, Los Angeles, Raj, we're going to get some games at SoFi Stadium. I'm very excited, already planning where I'm going to sit, how I'm going to get there. I hope you can come visit. Stan Cronky sitting there watching on like the Amir himself. And already, journalists, European-based journalists, upon what that may look like after a mass shooting at Virginia that left six people dead,

the New York Times, Tariq Panja, a gent, as we mentioned earlier, he's covered this World Cup so bloody brilliantly. He quote-tweeted a news report about the shooting, And he said, these are his words. He said, such a regular occurrence there that it's now expected. Hosted the 2026 World Cup. Wouldn't blame fans if they felt anxious about these events when thinking about whether or not to attend, end quote. And Tommy, that tweet, the foreign policy questions for Greg Boulter, all of it,

or if it got me thinking, what will the World Cup in our nation be like? What policy issues both foreign and domestic will serve as the sidecast to the football? Will we be the ones who have to prepare for the criticism? Will we be the ones who have to prepare for the scrutiny? So your question is basically what will Fox not be reporting on? It's a lovely, it's a lovely day here in Los Angeles. Yeah. Yeah.

So, like, Tariq is absolutely right. I mean, frankly, it's probably good for us to occasionally pause and try to look at ourselves from an outside perspective because I don't know, maybe we could learn something. And you know what? Like teams, players, fans visiting the U.S. for the 2026 World Cup, they will have every right to be concerned about the fact that you can buy and walk around with a machine gun in this country.

I mean, that is not, it is shameful in the fact that we haven't done anything about it is shameful and deserves criticism. As that exchange with Tyler Adams showed, I'm sure critics. will bring up America's history of slavery and Jim Crow in the systemic racism that still exists in this country to this day. That is a completely valid critique. I would not be at all surprised, Raj, if the pro-Palestine arm bands make another appearance. Countries criticize the U.S. support for Israel. You can imagine calls from Latin American teams for the U.S. to apologize for the CIA's meddling in South and Central America during the Cold War. The list goes on and

on. The point is, it's coming. And I just hope that our response is a nation. is to realize that we're not above reproach and to deal with criticism more like Tyler Adams than FIFA and not tried out some greasy jerk like Gianni Infantino to run interference for us and try to silence people, right? Like freedom of speech is the core of who we are and should be the value that we are projecting at all times. And we will have a rainbow just at an arc.

Please God, from sea to shining sea. And with that, we bring this episode of World Cup, up to a close. Tommy, I know that we're both living a lot of life right now. I just want to wish you and your partner at this incredibly special time, just health, joy and human wonder and your entire team at Crooked Media the Best. You are a beautiful bloke. I've loved every single second we've spent together creating this series. And to be clear, dear listener, this is not us closing the door on the possibility of another episode, wants things settled down, or once Johnny Mfantino record some kind of disc track aimed at the kids who bullied him for being a jinge.

But for now, everyone at Men and Blazers just wants to send you. And you in particular, Tommy, big love and courage. Thank you, buddy. I truly love doing this show with you. Your team over Menin Blazers is extraordinary. You guys have given me the gift of this time together, the series. Unfortunately, you have turned me into something of a football fanatic. I don't know that Hannah is thrilled about that.

In 2023, here's what we're going to do. We're going to get those tummy tattoos, right? Tracy Chapman for you. We're going to mom for me, maybe, or something like that. We're going to go to Goodison Park. We're going to find the first guy who has a bad thing to say about Christian Polisic. And then we'll probably make some jokes. I don't know.

That's all we can do do. But jokes aside, I sincerely do hope that we can link up again when the football is over. We can yap one more time about all the things we learned and loved and hated about this tournament. But until then, lots of love to you, Vanessa, your kids, your dog. and all the listeners who went on this journey with us. I'm grateful to all of you. And one last word. I'll say whatever happens when our boys take the field against the Netherlands,

one of the few teams in this tournament that we have no geopolitical beef with whatsoever. It's just a joy to watch them. The men and the women who represent the United States, a diverse, eclectic, kinetic squad of wonder. And in this time of chaos, in this time of division, Let's just marvel at them because they are one of the few things that just whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you believe in. They really make us all dream and they give us a sense of unity. And ultimately, that's the final thing.

I'm incredibly grateful for at this World Cup. Godspeed, gents, courage. World Corrupt is an original podcast collaboration from Men and Blazers and Crooked Media's Pod Save the World. Alongside Roger Bennett, I'm your host, Tommy Vitor. The executive producers and writers of World Corrupt are me, Roger Bennett, my great friend Tommy Vito and Men in Blazers, Jonathan Williamson, who incredibly edited and sound design the episodes, a bit like Phil Collins drumming and singing at the very same time.

A talented band. From the crooked media side, our executive producers are Michael Martinez, Sandy Gerard, and Giancarlo Bizarro. Our producers are Ryan Wallerston and Haley Muse. and our associate producer is Saul Rubin. For Men in Blazers, our producers, Miranda Davis and Martin S. This episode was fact-checked by Nikki Schaer Bradford, music by Veselius Photopoulos. With editing assistants from Nick Furshaw.

Additional production support from Crooked Media's Zuri Irvin, Kyle Segglin, and Ari Schwartz. And Men in Blazers mix discurude. Special thanks to Crooked Media's Julia Beech, Amelia Montuth, and Matt DeGrew. As well as Men in Blazers, Scott Debson, Michael Milberger and Alex Sale for their promotional, social support and love.