Can Soccer Make Politics Disappear?

I spent the better part of 2024 and 2025 on airplanes and in hotel rooms. Most of my dating took place while in transit. I almost avoided dating in Los Angeles. One of the few men I met while stationary was Soccer Guy, a retired professional soccer player who had spent the better part of his adult life playing in Russia, Belgium, and Romania. He texted me profusely with half-baked idea dates I never fully responded to. We never met up. This one isn’t going to be about my dating life, so I figured I’d just give you the tea.

I’m writing this right after Iran’s debut game against New Zealand in the 2026 World Cup. This happened right after we learned that the US and Iran have reportedly agreed on the terms of a ceasefire deal, which may or may not have been digitally signed. It feels like a war that began without clear objectives and may end with what looks, to many Americans, like surrender and $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets handed over to the Islamic Regime, a number far greater than Obama or Biden ever signed off on.

People are not their leaders. As Americans and Israelis, I think we can agree on that. I rooted for Iran, not the Islamic Regime, as the carefully designed broadcast carefully filtered closeups of fans, making sure to ignore both the Islamic Regime’s sigil and the golden lion, blurred but visible. FIFA enacted a ban on the pre-revolutionary flag, something we’re very used to seeing in Los Angeles. The fans, essential characters in every soccer match, were left out of the narrative. There can be no politics in FIFA. Duh.

The start of this war promised, not only to change the Middle East, but to change the world. Comparisons were drawn to Trump’s plan for Venezuela, back when we were hopeful that there was a plan for Venezuela. A war that made much more sense for Israel made little sense for US voters disconnected from the region, who quickly began to see costs rise during a presidency that was supposed to put them first. The war has already cost average households around $110-130 per month.

There’s a concept in politics known as “bread and circus”, coined by the Roman Empire, it’s the idea of using spectacle to distract the public from what’s going on. We’ve seen a lot of spectacle this year, from the demolition and remodeling of the White House to a full-on boxing match happening in the home of what we believe to be the greatest democracy on earth. Bread and circus isn’t just distraction. It’s spectacle replacing accountability.

It wasn’t a war the US needed to get into, or more aptly put, it wasn’t a war the US knew how to get out of. Yes, Khamenei was a homicidal tyrant who not only swore violence toward Israel and anything the US touched, but also killed anywhere around 5,000 to 30,000 of his own citizens in the last year alone. Trump promised the people of Iran (and those in the diaspora) that help was on the way, and encouraged them to revolt against the tyrant he wanted to the credit for getting rid of. Yes, Khamenei is dead. He has been succeeded by his son and by a Revolutionary Guard compromised of people said to be even more radical.

Opinions of this war that may soon be ending aside, I hope we remember how the leader we voted for not only destabilized our own economy, but plunged the world into uncertainty only to do the very thing he criticized of past presidents and helped Russia’s economy by waving sanctions on their oil, all while Russia continue to fight a war against Ukraine, a country we seem to have abandoned as aid to it has dropped, leaving Europe to carry the burden and consider a future in which the US plays for another team.

Republicans have recently begun opposing the war in Iran, gradually understanding that there is no more bread and circus on the table to keep Americans believing that this is the administration that stands for American First. But we forget quickly, and they’re counting on it.

As midterms roll around, I hope we don’t forget. I hope we don’t forget we paid for a war that amounted to nothing more than emboldening those who sought to hurt us. I hope we dig into our savings and remember why we’re not making ends meet, because if there’s one thing a government can’t lie to you about it’s what’s in your wallet.

Soccer Guy texted, “Hey, what’s up?” a couple of weeks ago, as if the scent of cleats on a fresh field summoned him to me. I didn’t respond. I’m not that kind of girl.