USA’s midfielder Tyler Adams (R) and coach Gregg Berhalter give a press conference on the Qatar National Convention Center in Doha on November 28, 2022, on the eve of the Qatar 2022 World Cup football match between Iran and USA.
Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty Images
The U.S. men’s soccer team faces its make-or-break World Cup match Tuesday against Iran. If it wins, it advances to the following stage – and if it loses, it’s heading home.
But despite needing to concentrate on an important game this team of players has ever faced, the lead-up has been fraught with political drama. On Monday, Team USA’s players sat through a surreal and politically charged news conference, during which they were bombarded with questions and criticism of their country.
In response to months of violent crackdowns on anti-government protests in Iran, the U.S. Soccer Federation over the weekend briefly made an alteration in its social media posts, showing the Iranian flag without its emblem of the Islamic Republic. The change, the federation said, was made for twenty-four hours to point out support for ladies protesting for his or her rights in Iran.
Iranian media reacted swiftly, with state media agency Tasnim calling for the U.S. team to be kicked out of the tournament.
Iran’s flag was modified to its current version in 1980, after the 1979 Islamic Revolution ushered in a theocracy led by conservative Muslim clerics. The U.S. and Iran have been ideological foes with severed diplomatic ties since then.
While many Iranians and activists supportive of the protesters welcomed the U.S. Soccer Federation’s move, saying they associate the Islamic Republic’s emblem with oppression and torture, Iran’s state media slammed it, accusing the U.S. of hypocrisy and grilling the team’s players with political questions throughout the Monday press event.
A reporter from Iran’s state-controlled Press TV criticized U.S. team captain Tyler Adams for mispronouncing Iran, and asked him how he felt about representing a rustic that the reporter described as being rife with racial discrimination. Adams is mixed race.
“Are you OK to be representing your country that has a lot discrimination against Black people in its own borders?” the Press TV reporter asked.
“My apologies on the mispronunciation of your country,” Adams responded. “That being said, there’s discrimination all over the place you go … within the U.S. we’re continuing to make progress each day … so long as you make progress that is an important thing.”
USA leave a team huddle led by Tyler Adams of USA throughout the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group B match between England and USA at Al Bayt Stadium on November 25, 2022 in Al Khor, Qatar.
Simon M Bruty | Anychance | Getty Images
One other Iranian state media reporter asked U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter: “What percentage of the world’s population might be joyful if Iran wins this match [versus the U.S. team]?”
Berhalter replied, “For us it is a soccer game against a superb team — it is not rather more than that.”
The coach and players seemed intent on avoiding entering into political topics and keeping the discussion on the sport, but their efforts were repeatedly ignored.
Iranian coach Carlos Queiroz similarly has tried to maintain his comments soccer-focused, despite pointed questions from reporters from various nations, including one on whether the flag drama would function motivation for his team.
“If after 42 years on this game as a coach, I still imagine I can win games with those mental games, I believe I’ve learned nothing concerning the game,” Queiroz, a Portuguese national, said. “This isn’t the case.”
Players quizzed on U.S. military policy
The political questions continued, nevertheless, even going so far as geopolitics and the U.S. military.
One among the Iranian reporters asked Berhalter: “Sport is something that ought to bring nations closer together and you might be a sportsperson. Why is it that you must not ask your government to remove its military fleet from the Persian Gulf?”
The U.S. team coach replied: “I agree, sport is something that ought to bring countries together … you get to compete as brothers.”
Ahmad Nourollahi of Iran in motion throughout the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group B match between England and IR Iran at Khalifa International Stadium on November 21, 2022 in Doha, Qatar.
Richard Sellers | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
Berhalter was also asked about strict U.S. laws on visas for Iranian nationals, to which he replied: “I do not know enough about politics, I’m a soccer coach. I’m not well versed on international politics so I can not comment on that.”
U.S. team apologizes for Iranian flag change, says it was oblivious
The U.S. team’s coach also apologized for the Iranian flag change, saying that he and his players had no role in the choice and knew nothing about it.
“Sometimes things are out of our control,” Berhalter said. “We’re not focused on those outside things and all we will do is apologize on behalf of the players and the staff, nevertheless it’s not something that we were an element of.”
“We had no idea what U.S. Soccer put out. The staff, the players, we had no idea. For us our focus is on this match. … After all our thoughts are with the Iranian people, the entire country, and everybody,” he added.
Protesters gather to reveal against the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran on September 23, 2022 in Berlin, Germany.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
U.S. defender Tim Ream said throughout the conference, “We support women’s rights, and what we’re doing as a team is supporting that while also trying to organize for the largest game that this squad has had thus far.”
Protests have taken place throughout Iran since mid-September, triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody. Amini, a Kurdish Iranian woman, was arrested for allegedly breaking Iran’s strict rules on wearing the hijab, the Islamic head covering for ladies.
An image obtained by AFP outside Iran on September 21, 2022, shows Iranian demonstrators burning a rubbish bin within the capital Tehran during a protest for Mahsa Amini, days after she died in police custody. –
– | Afp | Getty Images
Many Iran analysts are calling the rebellion the largest challenge to the Islamic Republic in a long time. Ahead of its first World Cup match on Nov. 21, which was against England, the Iranian team refused to sing their national anthem, standing in stoic silence as an alternative. The team did sing the anthem for his or her second match on Friday, but reports have emerged that they were forced to accomplish that under threat.
Positive words
The coaches of each teams made references to the last time the U.S. and Iran competed on a World Cup stage, which was in 1998 in France. Iran beat the U.S. 2-1 in a tricky game that was dubbed on the time “the mother of all football matches.” The coaches each complimented the opposite team’s performance.
Iran’s team coach, Queiroz, also said positive things concerning the U.S. squad’s performance up to now in Qatar, where it tied with each Wales and England. He said that the American team had made a “jump from soccer to football.”
“We play a really, superb team, thoroughly organized with the identical dream and same goal in mind,” Queiroz said.
Iran players line up for the national anthem prior to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group B match between England and IR Iran at Khalifa International Stadium on November 21, 2022 in Doha, Qatar.
Julian Finney | Getty Images
“I hope tomorrow my boys will find a way to place together their heads, their souls, their skills and the desire to win. I hope that they’ll get the result that offers us a passport for the second round.”
Berhalter similarly praised the Iranian team’s 1998 performance. “Iran desired to win the sport with every thing — they played really committed, really focused from the primary whistle. For us to win the sport tomorrow that is going to need to be the mindset of our group. … We do not need to make the mistakes of the past.”
As for Tuesday’s match, which begins at 2 p.m. ET, Berhalter said: “We win or we’re out of the World Cup. Anytime you are in a World Cup and also you get to enter the last group game in command of your personal destiny, that is a reasonably good thing.”