FIFA and U.S. officials need to be better hosts

How it started: A dream. A French machine-gun officer in the trenches during the First World War.

- MIRJAM SWANSON

RONALDO BOLAÑOS Los Angeles Times PEOPLE hold an emblem symbolizing the word Allah, which is a part of the official flag of Iran, before the match between Belgium and Iran at SoFi Stadium.

A man named Jules Rimet, who believed an international soccer tournament would bring the nations together with the goal of peace.

How it's going: The world's biggest party. A 48-nation celebration of the world's most beloved sport. Expected to generate about $8.9 billion, it's become such a big deal that it's being hosted by three countries - one of which, yes, launched a war on a competing nation in the months before the tournament.

The United States' war with Iran, costly in all the profound ways that war is, also laid the groundwork for an uneven-and possibly precedent-setting-playing field.

At this World Cup, Team Melli has been subjected to shifting travel restrictions and uncertainty unlike the other 47 teams, spending the tournament commuting between Southern California and its base in Tijuana.

And still, after Sunday's 0-0 draw against Belgium, the world's No. 10-ranked team, Team Melli is in position to not only get out of its group at the World Cup for the first time, but to win Group G.

Iran's treatment only makes its performance more impressive - while bringing into question the future of a tournament that purports to be apolitical.

And conjuring up concerns about how the Olympics will operate when L.A. is supposed to open its arms to the world two years from now.