The U.S. Resists Spiking the Soccer Ball

Americans have preferred to dwell on the boyish heroics of Team USA, average age 24. The chivalry on display from the American public is derived in part from the wholesomeness of the players. The goal scorer and talisman,

Christian Pulisic,

is known to his teammates as Captain America. He credits his parents for his success. The players around him make for the most racially diverse team to represent the U.S. in any sport. And their diversity is organic, achieved by excellence on the ball, not by legal design. Among its best players is

Timothy Weah,

the New York-born son of Liberia’s President

George Weah.

American schadenfreude was muted, also, by public sympathy with the people of Iran—which translated into sympathy for the Iranian players. After they stood in silent protest during their national anthem before their first game (against England), news filtered out that they’d been ordered by Tehran’s mullahs to sing the anthem next time—or face reprisals. They sang it halfheartedly at their second game (against Wales), and before facing Team USA, moving their lips in compliance with the bullies’ diktat. Their evident lack of freedom struck a chord with Americans. These men faced mortal pressure. They deserve compassion.

In a team sport like soccer, the community and its standards press harder than in solitary contests. If you don’t have freedom of speech at home, it will affect the team’s temper, and its ability to let off steam or publicly express joy. This constraint afflicts players from authoritarian countries, and explains why they’ve seldom won the World Cup. The Soviet Union never did, for all its size and manpower.

We don’t want our teams laboring under the same kind of duress as the Iranians. Yet the West is in no pure state in that regard, with the cancellation culture warping our lives. The difference, of course, is obvious. No American player is going to be imprisoned for a stray political utterance or for getting someone’s pronouns wrong. Iran, by contrast, is so hellish that its people were happy the U.S. won. “This was never about soccer,” says

Roya Hakakian,

an Iranian-American writer, in an email. “For those inside Iran, the only consequential match is the one against the regime.”

Mr. Varadarajan, a Journal contributor, is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and at New York University Law School’s Classical Liberal Institute.