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Grieving Iranians beat South Korea in soccer

After weeks of debate over the confluence of the Iran-South Korea soccer match and the most significant Islamic holiday for Shiite Muslims, Iran beat South Korea — while people cheered and mourned simultaneously.
Iranian fans wave a religious banner to mark Ashura, which marks the death of Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein in the seventh century, during the 2018 World Cup qualifying football match between Iran and South Korea at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran on October 11, 2016. / AFP / ATTA KENARE        (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

Almost the entire 100,000-seat Azadi Stadium in Tehran seemed to be dressed in black Oct. 11 as the Iranian fans cheered their national soccer team to a 1-0 victory over South Korea in a qualifier for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Fans, politicians and religious leaders had for days differed on whether the match ought to be canceled due to its coinciding with Tasua and Ashura, which fell on Oct. 11-12 this year. The two holidays are the ninth and 10th of the month of Moharram, where national mourning rituals are performed to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

The escalating debate had built up tension in the media before the match. The heaviest voice calling for canceling or rescheduling the game was Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, the president of the Society of Seminary Teachers in the holy city of Qom — and until May the head of the Assembly of Experts. During a news conference Oct. 2, Yazdi expressed his concern: “If we are going to preserve the sanctity of Ashura by performing a eulogy before the match, what happens when Iran scores against South Korea and people cheer? Can we [then] prevent people from cheering?”

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