Their forward was once suspended when her head scarf slipped off during a goal celebration. Their youngest player is just 18. Another once worked as a personal trainer overseas. These are the women of the Iran football team, who are at the centre of an international diplomatic incident, even as the US and Israel rain missiles down on their family back home.
The team was holed up in a hotel on the Gold Coast, where they played their third and final match of the Women’s Asian Cup on Sunday, before five of them managed to slip therir handlers and seek asylum under police protection in Australia.
