Football & Presidential Election · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Iran was defeated 2-0 by Portugal in World Cup and lost any hope to go to the next round. Iranian bloggers have shared their thoughts, feelings and photos about this game.
Watching the  game with the iron men
Arash Ashoorinia, a leading photoblogger, watched the game with Hossein Rezazadeh (the man in red),  the current world record holder, and Kourosh Bagheri, former 94 kg weightlifting champion of the world. The photo blogger has captured  an exceptional moment :
The blogger has not been surprised by Iran's defeat. He say ” we were supposed to be defeated by Portugal, weren't we”?
We are not professionals!
Deltang writes that our football problems are structural. The blogger says our football is old and sick and it needs structural changing. Deltang says our players are not really professional. The blogger considers we are far from a professional football which is based on mathematic calculations (Persian).
The blogger says:
“Now players are doing shopping in Frankfurt market and they have fun. They will be criticized for one or two months and then everything become as usual for them.”
Where are Iranian  supporters?
Man dar ghorbat says   Germany cameras do not show Iranian supporters even in Iran-Mexico game. Then the blogger asks if is not that a kind of boycotting!
Matroud writes that according to the statistics in a magazine, among all football supporters in World Cup, Iranians are the number one clients of prostitutes in Germany (Persian).
Football is not the only competition bloggers talk about. Several of Iranian bloggers remembered presidential election anniversary when Mr. Ahmadinejad celebrated his victory.
Why reformist candidate failed?
Hanif Mazroi talks about his activities during presidential election for Dr.Mostafa Moin, failed reformist candidate. He also o explains why the reformist candidate lost the election. The blogger says Moin’s campaigners did not pay attention to religious people. Among 22 million who voted for Khatami, we can count many religious people. No attention to people in villages who participate in elections. The blogger adds :
“Most energy was consumed to convince the people who boycotted election to change their decision. The others were forgotten. Some people who were  working  for Moin's election, did not believe in him and even during election did not vote for him.”
Hanif says he does not regret to participate in this  election …He came to know somebody (Moin) who is an honest man and beyond the tricky world of politics.
From yesterday to tomorrow
Ertefa dard writes that in Iranian history there has never been a continuous democratic process or governments. The blogger says thanks to the democratic slogans K hatami came to power. According to the blogger
The poor thought with democratic reformists there would be more wealth distribution & less corruption. The rich considered democratic system for their life & capital…. reformists failed to accomplish their projects and create a law based society. Ertefa dard adds the ethnic social class and even generational gaps in Iranian society make every political prediction difficult and complex.
He adds Rafsanjani wanted economic expansion without political opening and Khatami focused on the political opening without paying attention to economic expansion.
Maryam Shabani  defends her idea for boycotting election and says voting for reformists were useless. The blogger adds when political reformism door got closed reformism in society will emerge (Persian).
Why Ahmadinejad?
Berkley forum, a collective blog, has published an email from one of its readers about Mr.Ahmadinejad's election:
“By voting for Ahmadinejad They  (people) are not embracing fascism – but just voting for someone who promises them a better life. If one listens to Ahmadinejad regularly, he won’t hear much about wiping Israel off the map. But in every occasion he will hear about building gyms for women and the youth, employment opportunities, new schools and hospitals, roads, and such. Many know that such promises won’t come true – but at least they are made and provide a glimpse of hope for the future. “
In a Cleric's Notes we read people voted for Ahmadinejad because he had promised to neutralise inflation, solve their major problems and fought economic corruption. People voted to find a solution for their problems but they did not follow a specific political tendency (Persian).