Thanks to a heroic goal by Captain America himself, Christian Pulisic, the US men’s national team defeated Iran to advance to the knockout round of the World Cup.

But what may end up in the history books wasn’t the action on the field, but the tumultuous political currents that were swirling ahead of the match. The US and Iran are geopolitical foes whose hostility toward one another has only been ramping up recently. And Iran itself is going through its biggest political upheaval in years, which has generated controversy around its soccer team. All this resulted in one of the most politically charged World Cup games in recent memory.

Perhaps the best place to start is at a wild press conference that took place on Monday. Iranian media (some of which is state-affiliated) grilled US coach Gregg Berhalter and team captain Tyler Adams with questions that were overtly political.

• An Iranian reporter asked Adams, who is Black, whether he felt comfortable representing a country that discriminates against Black people. (Here’s how Adams responded.)
• Another reporter asked Berhalter why he hadn’t asked the US government to remove its military presence in the Persian Gulf.

This aggressive line of questioning came after the US Soccer Federation waded into Iran’s domestic political issues. Anti-government protests have exploded across the country following the death of a young woman in police custody, and US Soccer briefly posted a doctored image of the Iranian flag on social media to show support for the protests. Iran’s government was incensed, and demanded that FIFA kick the US out of the tournament.

But the Iranian government also had political activism from its own team to worry about. Last week, players refused to sing the country’s national anthem before their match with England to show solidarity with the protests. They began to sing again in subsequent matches, but according to a CNN report, Iranian officials threatened players’ families with “violence and torture” if they didn’t sing the national anthem or engaged in other protests.

The public’s anger against Iran’s leaders is so intense that many Iranians were seen actively rooting against their own soccer team, understanding that their government would use on-the-field success as propaganda to boost its power.—MM, NF

The Senate passes landmark marriage equality bill. With bipartisan support, the Senate passed the Respect for Marriage Act, which offers protections for same-sex and interracial marriages. Democrats had worked quickly to pass this bill after hints that the Supreme Court could roll back its 2015 decision legalizing gay marriage like it struck down abortion rights earlier this year. The Respect for Marriage Act will next be voted on by the Democrat-led House (which passed an earlier version of it in July) before President Biden can sign it into law.

Congress is also moving to avert a rail strike. Democratic and Republican leaders agreed they had to step in to prevent a looming railroad strike from, er, derailing the economy ahead of the holidays. Today, lawmakers will vote on a bill that would block an impending strike by railroad workers, who are angry about their grueling schedules and inadequate sick time. This intervention (the first of its kind since 1992) is not sitting well with some union leaders—they’ve criticized the Biden administration for taking away their bargaining leverage.

Apple Music again overshadowed by Spotify. It was supposed to be a day to celebrate at Apple Music: The platform launched an updated version of Replay, its own version of Spotify Wrapped, to show users their top artists, songs, genres, and more for the year. But if you were on social media, you barely knew it. Instead, everyone was sharing images from Instafest, an app that creates a personalized music festival drawn from your listening habits on…Spotify.

Elon Musk joined the long-simmering war against Apple this week. The Twitter CEO alleged that Apple threatened to boot Twitter from its App Store, and called out Apple for censorship and its notorious App Store fees.

ICYMI: Apple takes a 30% cut of every purchase of and within big companies’ apps on its devices—which could include the $8 monthly fee that Musk plans to charge for verification on Twitter.

In taking the gloves off with Apple, Musk formed an alliance with other tech leaders who’ve been grumbling about the App Store:

• Tim Sweeney, CEO of Fortnite developer Epic Games, has gone to the mattresses over the fees: His company sued Apple over the 30% cut in 2020, pretty much lost, and appeared in court this month to appeal the verdict.
• Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said last month that Apple is “choking competition” after Spotify’s audiobooks app was rejected from the App Store three times for allegedly not following App Store rules.

Sweeney and Ek are overjoyed to welcome Musk to the fam. Both CEOs retweeted posts from Musk about the App Store, and Sweeney used the renewed interest to update everyone on his feud with Apple, which he said “maintain[s] an illegal monopoly on app distribution.”

As the storm rages, Apple CEO Tim Cook has stayed silent, not taking Musk’s bait.—JW

This holiday season, it’s important to keep those who aren’t having the jolliest time in our thoughts. We’re talking, of course, about Miami nightclubs, which have been rocked by the absence of big-spending crypto whales amid the market’s deep freeze.

Nightclubs in the city became a home away from home for crypto entrepreneurs, who—when times were good—would rent out venues for half a million dollars and order top-shelf Champagne to shower themselves with. That clientele (“95 percent men…with a kind of nerdy style,” according to one operator) has disappeared due to the crypto market collapse, according to a report by the Financial Times.

E11even, a club that accepted payment in cryptocurrency, processed $6+ million worth of transactions last year. In the last three months, it’s taken in less than $10,000.

Is Miami okay? Magic City went pretty much all in on crypto back when celebrities were scooping up million-dollar ape drawings, but things have changed. Crypto-promoting Mayor Francis Suarez removed laser eyes from his Twitter profile; Miami-Dade County asked a federal judge to end the Miami Heat arena’s naming rights deal with bankrupt FTX; and the city’s personal token, MiamiCoin, has dropped 99% from its peak value.—MK

Stat: We are all becoming Paul Rudd in I Love You, Man, because we’re spending way less time with friends than we used to. In 2021, the average American spent two hours and 45 minutes a week with friends, down 58% compared to 2010–2013, per a Washington Post analysis. And American teens spent 11 fewer hours with friends each week in 2021 compared to 2010–2013, a 64% drop. This development is really worrisome, as more time spent alone likely contributes to worse mental health and other bad societal outcomes.

Quote: “That is not who I want to be.”

Will Smith addressed slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars on The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, attributing it to “rage that had been bottled for a really long time.” “I was going through something that night. Not that that justifies my behavior at all,” he added. Smith also talked up his upcoming movie, Emancipation, in which he stars as a runaway slave.

Read: A fascinating article comparing the construction of the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center. (Construction Physics)

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Word search: Today’s puzzle is for anyone who thinks window seat > aisle. Play the Word Search here.

Movie frames

The image on the left is the first frame of a movie, and the image on the right is the final frame of the same movie. Can you name the film?

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