The scene outside Team Melli's training ground yesterday: dozens of women prevented from entering, singing and carrying flags to support the Iranian World Cup squad; a father brings his young daughters to watch; men watching from inside the grounds calling out "Sisters, don't give up!" One presumably doesn't get to be an Ayatollah by allowing oneself to get shoved around all willy-nilly by public opinion, but I can always hope that the squad's appearance in Germany this summer will highlight this inequity and perhaps create enough humiliation for those surrounding and advising (Ayatollahs still get advised, right? I mean, by regular humans, in addition to the divine variety?) Iran's supreme leader to persuade him to rethink the ban President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tried to lift earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Luton midfielder and Trinidad and Tobago international Carlos Edwards writes his first in a series of columns leading up to the tournament. Some highlights: the Soca Warriors fear no one, their supporters are the best partiers in the world and cause trouble to no one, and Coach Leo Beenhakker will bollock anyone, including Dwight Yorke. No matter how far they get, no one is going to have more fun this summer than the lads from Trinidad and Tobago and their loyal fans.
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