The first round of the World Cup has ended, where football passions and intrigues are not inferior to the matches in terms of emotionality. A prison cell for the Iranian national team, politicized Haitian shirts, and how to earn your retirement thanks to one successful match.
The first round of the World Cup has ended, where football passions and intrigues are not inferior to the matches in terms of emotionality. A prison cell for the Iranian national team, politicized Haitian shirts, and how to earn your retirement thanks to one successful match.
As is typical of World Cup-level tournaments, the scandals surrounding the World Cup began even before it started. The best African referee, Omar Artan, was unable to enter the tournament due to the Trump administration's new immigration policy.
The referee from Somalia was held in an interrogation room for about 11 hours, after which he was banned from entering the US territory with subsequent deportation outside the country. The official reason: Artan allegedly has ties to the Somali terrorist organization Al Shaab, which is linked to Al Qaeda.
The African referee reacted to his deportation in an expected manner, stating that it was his dream to work at the World Cup.
The world football community criticized the decision of the US immigration service. UEFA immediately issued a statement condemning such actions and appointed Artan as the main referee for the UEFA Super Cup match between PSG and Aston Villa, which will take place in August.
As for FIFA itself, which should have protected the referee it had appointed to officiate the World Cup matches, the organization decided to pay the referee the full salary Artan was supposed to receive for the tournament.
The biggest intrigue before the start of the World Cup was whether the Iranian national football team would go to the tournament or be replaced by another team. The context is clear to everyone: the US started a war in the Persian Gulf against Iran, which finally destroyed the already hostile relations between the two countries.
Rumors spread that Iran would be replaced by Italy, which is already missing the third World Cup in a row, and then unofficially discussed options for holding a mini-tournament among other contenders. However, no good reason was ever found to replace the Iranian team without looking like the completely corrupt robbers of FIFA. So the Iranian team did fly to the World Cup.
However, it was not without scandals and strict restrictions. Immediately upon arrival in Mexico, where the Iranian team urgently changed its base (the previous location was in Texas), the team players got off the plane with pins with the number 168 on their clothes. The number corresponds to the number of victims at the school in Minab, which was hit by an American missile.
Then 15 members of the Iranian delegation were deprived of their visas for the same reason as in the case of the Somali referee. The rest of the US delegation was allowed to enter their territory only for the duration of the matches. And all three matches in its group Iran will play in the USA. After the final whistle, the players must immediately go to the airport and fly to Mexico.
Before the match against New Zealand, which took place in California, the state with the largest Iranian diaspora, Iranian Americans protested against their homeland's team. However, during the broadcast of the match itself, which ended in a 2-2 draw, the stadium was evenly supportive of both the New Zealand and Iranian teams.
We'll see how the fans feel in the second round, when the Iranians play against the Belgians, but given the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran, which is supposed to end the war and unblock Hormuz, it seems that the Iranian football players will be calmer.
Another political embarrassment has befallen the Haitian national team. FIFA has banned the island nation from wearing shirts that depict people holding the Haitian flag. Football officials have deemed the shirts too political, as they depict the Battle of Verthiers, which was crucial to Haiti's independence. The kit manufacturer has since changed the design of the shirts, so the Haitian team will be playing in a rather nondescript, by today's standards, uniform.
Ukrainian fans are familiar with this situation. At one time, the Russian Federation demanded that UEFA and FIFA ban the inscription “Glory to Ukraine” on the Ukrainian national team’s T-shirts, and a few years later, the Russians also came up with a new design for the T-shirts, which featured a map of Ukraine within its officially recognized borders. Fortunately, both attempts were unsuccessful.
By the way, in their first match, the Haitians lost to Scotland with a minimal score. The only goal was scored by Aston Villa winger John McGinn, who after the match ended took an epic selfie on a fan's smartphone. A Celtic fan accidentally dropped his phone from the stands while filming his team leaving the field, McGinn picked up the device, saw that the recording was continuing, celebrated with the fans and returned the phone to the owner.
After Scotland's 1-0 World Cup opening win over Haiti, a fan dropped their phone while trying to film the players leaving the pitch 📱
— FitbaFocus 🏴 (@FitbaFocus) June 14, 2026
John McGinn spotted it, picked it up, and took a selfie
What a moment ❤️👏 #Scotland #TartanArmy #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/Wre8i58mcf
Despite the negative moments, the World Cup is still a celebration of football, where dreams come true. This is what happened to the 40-year-old goalkeeper of the Cape Verde national team, named Vozinha, whose transfer value is only 50,000 euros. The goalkeeper's incredible game against Spain not only ensured a positive result for his country, but also brought him world fame. Before the match, he had about 50,000 followers, and a day later, he had 10 million. As of today, the number of Vozinha's followers on Instagram has crossed the mark of 13.3 million.
Vozinha's joy doesn't end there, as his mother will attend the next match against Uruguay. The thing is that the US visa became difficult for the goalkeeper, but after the phenomenal performance, the US State Department relaxed the requirements for Vozinha's mother (somewhere a Somali referee got sad). Therefore, she will watch her son Candide Evora's performance at the stadium in Miami tomorrow.
Argentina easily defeated Algeria thanks to goals from Lionel Messi, who in his 200th international appearance set up a hat-trick for Zinedine Zidane's son. It was Messi's first World Cup hat-trick and moved him level with Germany legend Miroslav Klose on 16 goals. Both forwards now have 16 goals each.
Messi also became the first player to play in six consecutive World Cups, and the match against Algeria was the Argentine's 27th in the World Cup, which is also a record.
However, even here there was a lot of trouble. In the 31st minute of the match, with the score 1:0, Messi rudely stepped on the opponent's leg. The referee did not even show the Argentine a yellow card, which made many fans question the main referee of the match. In my opinion, if any other player had been in Messi's place, it would have been a straight red card even without a VAR review.
As a Messi fan I must confess he's really been favored by the referee. That's a red card offense! Period! pic.twitter.com/y1CnqFIVfG
— RAZOR BLADE (@razorblade300) June 17, 2026
Finally, we have to decide on the best match of the first round. There are many contenders, from the crazy shootout between England and Croatia, to the even game between Morocco and Brazil. Personally, I remember two matches: Netherlands-Japan and Ivory Coast-Ecuador.
In the first: the Japanese, despite their underdog status, demonstrated willpower and fought back twice. In the second: two equal teams played almost without a center field, which for a neutral fan presented a match rich in scoring opportunities.
Traditionally, Japanese fans impressed with their cleanliness.
The reason Japan fans clean the stadium after each game. Respect. 🤝🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/o9qJUOLefY
— FIFA (@FIFAcom) June 15, 2026
