Los Angeles will forever be known as a place which blurs fact with fiction. Making it the most fitting host of a sporting movie hitting the big screens tomorrow, which promises to be nothing short of surreal.
Forget the notion sport and politics should never mix. Because the World Cup showdown between Iran and New Zealand will represent a concept even the most warped imagination would struggle to come up with. One which will see football and war collide head on.
Billions around the globe will hold their breath in anticipation of an event of remarkable and historic circumstances. And one of them will be Gianni Infantino. Because he knows FIFA's slogan that 'football unites the world' faces its greatest ever threat of being dumped in an American trash can.
Iran will become the first team in history to compete on soil belonging to a host nation, with which it is at war with. Just take a moment to compute this. Never before will a game of football take place against a backdrop which makes a complete and utter mockery of the moronic message of unity FIFA president Infantino continues to peddle. Welcome to La La Land.
The fragile ceasefire between Iran and the United States has struggled to hold. Hostilities have intensified in a conflict US president Donald Trump declared on Iran almost four months ago. One which has resulted in the innocent deaths of more than 7000 people, including women and children.
The Iran national team start their World Cup campaign on Tuesday. In response, Iran launched attacks on several neighbouring countries, some of which are also competing at this World Cup. And yet, despite all of the death and destruction, Iran's national team finds itself preparing to embark on a World Cup campaign which promises to keep the planet spellbound.
Whatever obstacles the despicable double act of Trump and Infantino have put in Iran's path, they appear to have been overcome. Iran switched their training base from the US to Mexico, where the camp in Tijuana has been flanked with hundreds of armed police and barbed-wire fencing. The squad will have to fly into Los Angeles for the game, then return to Mexico straight afterwards. The same pattern will be repeated for the other two group games, in LA and Seattle, to avoid them having to remain overnight in the US. None of the backroom staff will be allowed to make the trips.
Trump issued an update on the war on Sunday night. Trump made it clear he didn't want Iran at the tournament in the first place. He even suggested Iran wouldn't be safe. But the team and coaching staff defied him, although Iran's participation wasn't confirmed until last week, when US visas were eventually granted. Several officials, including Mehdi Taj, president of Iran football's governing body, have been denied entry however, due to their links to various political groups. Taj has remained defiant, insisting Iran has gone to the World Cup because it deserves to be there. "Our host is FIFA, not Mr Trump or America" he said.
While Iran claim to be prepared for the kick off, which is hard to imagine. Caught in the crossfire of this unfathomable madness and mayhem are the Kiwis, Belgium and Egypt. Possible pawns in a sporting landscape like no other. Just to recap then: this will be the first World Cup where a host has committed war crimes against a participating nation, one which in turn, has bombed other participating nations. And to think Infantino had dreams of staging a political free World Cup. Instead, he's now strapping himself in for what could be the most politically combustable one of all time.
