ADVERTISEMENTGhafouri, who is Kurdish, was a star member of Iran’s 2018 World Cup team, but was surprisingly not named in the squad for this year in Qatar. ADVERTISEMENTThe turmoil has overshadowed the start of Iran’s World Cup campaign. Before that match, which Iran lost 6-2, its players remained silent as their national anthem played and didn’t celebrate their two goals. “They’re not liking that it’s a political statement,” he said, adding that other Iranian fans had approached him to say they appreciated the gesture. ___AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
