The United States made modern World Cup history this weekend, becoming the first nation to host one of the 48 competing teams while bombing that same country's territory. Iran's footballers crashed out of the tournament late Saturday following a dramatic tie between Austria and Algeria in Kansas City, hours after US warplanes hit Iranian coastal sites and a day before Iran launched intercepted missiles at American bases in Bahrain and Kuwait.
The collision of sport and active warfare on US soil is something the modern game has never seen. Iranian-American families, ticket-holders paying four figures a seat, and US fans watching from match cities now sit inside both stories at once.
