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The Graphic Truth: The Mother of All Games 2.0

Side-by-side chart on a soccer pitch background showing how the US and Iran compare on some soccer and non-soccer metrics.
Paige Fusco
By Carlos Santamaria,
Carlos Santamaria

Carlos Santamaria is a former senior writer at GZERO.

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Paige Parsacala
Paige Parsacala
Paige Fusco is a graphic designer creating visualizations - data-driven and otherwise - for Eurasia Group and GZERO Media.
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November 28, 2022
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The US plays, of all countries, Iran (!) at the Qatar men's soccer World Cup on Tuesday in the most politically charged game of the most political edition of the tournament in decades. What’s more, if Team Melli — as Iran's team is popularly known — wins, it’ll advance to the knockout stage for the first time. (Not to mention that Iran won't miss a chance to beat Great Satan at anything.) USMNT, for its part, wants revenge from France '98, when Iran won 2-1 in a major upset that Tehran billed at the time as the "Mother of all Games." We take a look at how the two geopolitical rivals compare on some soccer and non-soccer metrics.

usa vs irangreat satanworld cupsoccerworld cup politicsgraphic truth

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