Submitted by Kevin Konzelman on the 2015 winter session program in Australia sponsored by the College of Engineering…
World Cup qualifying is starting to consume the soccer world again. In the Asian region, the countries are hosting a tournament to determine the first team to qualify for the World Cup in the summer of 2016. We are extremely fortunate on our study abroad to Australia that this year’s tournament is being held in Australia, with about 10 games being played just 10 minutes away by train at Melbourne’s Rectangular Stadium. A large group of us recently attended a game between Iran and Bahrain. In the United States, Iran can be a bit of a tricky subject, so we were eager to go see this game in particular. 
Since both teams were from countries thousands of miles away, we all assumed attendance would be low, especially for a relatively unimportant first round game. To our surprise, the stadium and surrounding plaza were overflowing with fans from both countries, as well as those like us who just wanted to see a good game. Iranian fans made up the majority of the crowd, however, and our seating section was filled with fans of the country. In traditional soccer fashion, the fans cheered, chanted, and sang to a drum beat throughout the game. There was a positive passion and genuineness in the way the Iranian fans acted that was foreign to me. Iran is simply not depicted like that in mainstream America. In the end, Iran, who is a much better team, won 2-0.
The next day, a number of us were at the beach, and a few strangers asked us if we wanted to play soccer on the beach. Some of us played and started an international tournament of sorts. Being from the United States, we obviously represented the US. The two other groups playing with us represented Colombia and Iran. It turns out both of those groups were also from the countries they represented. They could not be nicer, and they were very forgiving of the fact that we didn’t put up much of a game against them. 
From this past week, I could not help but re-think my position on Iran. The positions of the government is one story meant for another time, but the Iranian people may not necessarily agree with the policies of their government and are certainly much more friendly to us than American conventional thinking would predict. Australia is a melting pot much like America is. The difference here though is that every foreign group is treated with respect. That is admirable, and it is a shame America is not the same way. This experience has certainly taught me not to judge the actions of a whole people based on those of a few in the public spotlight.